Breakfast Burrito: eggs, Bacons, Turkey, Breakfast Sausages, Potatoes, Cheddar & Jack Cheese, Side Salsa.

Sounds like an American breakfast. Hope you have a pleasant stay... and a happy 4th.

Posted by: GN on July 4, 2009 11:58 AM

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Morale Issues

Obviously the morale of the company was hit by the bankruptcy, the job cut, and the recent financing problems. Why I saw this? The attitude of the service attendants have never been so bad.

The guy serving the back rows asked to an elder person to put her baggage to the overhead luggage space: "You only have two choices: put it there, or out of the plane". Then he opened the cover of the luggage space, and looked at the passenger. The behavior was unbelievable, and many passengers rose and shouted: "How bad the service are!", "How can you be so mean!", or "It is YOUR duty to help the passenger!" This alone does not mean a bad morale, just bad customer service, but when I saw the other flight attendants passed by indifferently, and seemed didn't care about what their peers were doing, that was obviously a company morale issue. Who cares about this "little" things in a sinking boat? I experienced this in eBay China before.

The other thing is the Channel 9. The fewer and fewer time can I listen to the Channel 9 on flight of United Airline flights. Channel 9 is the channel for pilots to communicate with traffic control tower, and United was the first (is it the only one) offering the voice channel to all the passengers. What a great idea, and how ambitious they were to build the best airline when they launched this? Channel 9 worked before 2006 (I remember), and never worked afterwards.

No to mention Channel 9. Even the Channel 1 didn't work - the audio of movie program. I watched three movies briefly with no audio at all - the only thing from the earphone was noise.

Details? Customer Satisfaction?

Besides the details of customer service, channel 9 (innovation), and channel 1 (basics), there are other things that added up to the bad impression.

Some of the reading light was broken, while the overhead background lights could not be turned off. It lit up for some time, and then went off for some time, and lit up again. The whole flight alternated from light to dark. Only when this happened did I realize that most flight should be completely dark during the night journey. I guess that is the main reason they gave me a apology card, and allowed me to enjoy 10% discount of next flight.

Ironically, the almost broken and shaking movie screen showed something like "Customer Satisfaction is Our Priority". Actually, United is in big trouble: their satisfaction rate was lowest in DOT
and received 2.6 complains for every 100K passengers and was lowest since 2001. You see, the passengers can feel it.

Business behind it

Now I understand that when customer service has problem, it is not the VP of customer service, or VP of flight attendants or anyone who should be responsible. It was the strategic choices the CEO made.

Actually, customer service is not that important if United wants to be another Southwest Airlines, whose mission is to provide lowest possible fare. United really need to lower the cost of their service. However, that does not mean the attitude issue should not be solved. United was stuck in the middle: they cannot provide service at the same standard as before due to cost constrain, and they cannot lower the cost further to compete with the low cost players in this bad economy. Something must be done to save this company.

Actually the service at Southwest Airlines is very good.

Posted by: Realclearchina on July 3, 2009 6:37 PM

Yes, Southwest flight is pretty nice. I like their safety instruction announcement especially (not the typical announcement you will hear). I remember once the flight attendant sing a song after landing.

Back to United. I remember seeing a verbal fight between passenger and flight attendant in a flight between ORD/PVG (don't remember which way). It seems to me the fault is at the passenger side (too aggressive), that being said, the flight attendant has a hot temper. I think a lot things look strange is due to culture difference. Here in the US, if a passenger is very aggressive, the pilot can ask that person to leave the plane (security risk). This is just a reality after Sept. 11. If the passenger has a legitimate complaint, he/she can ask for the supervising flight attendant.

Posted by: STLPlace on July 3, 2009 9:36 PM

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Just landed. Stayed at 3200 El Camino Real - the Super 8 Hotel, a cheap hotel that I stayed once the last time. The United Airline UA 858 flight I just finished was the worst experience I had so far. I may write about it. Even the crew felt that it is so bad that they gave many of us a "Please Accept Out Apology" card, and a series number on it. With the card, I can get 10% off from the next international trip, or $150 certificate...

When I left eBay and started the adventure journey, I know as a company, we have made a decision to be on our own, and the journey of low cost operation. I no longer stay in five star hotels, and no longer fly business class - I said goodbye to my business class seat the last time I flied, and I know, for a very long time, evern when economy allows, to stay low cost is the right thing to do - Bill Gates always fly economy long after Microsoft became the software giant.

The next thing for me to do is to find a PHO restaurant as soon as possible - get the noodle and then sleep.

Welcome to the Bay Area! I share your pain about the airline experience. Somehow, Asian airlines fare much better in terms of service. I get a feeling that we "owe them a living" to fly with them and that it is "beneath" them to offer us a good service. But I guess with this economic downturn, we ought to be frugal and fly cheaply. Have a good rest and wish you good luck in your trip here!

Posted by: Khan on July 3, 2009 5:29 AM

jianshuo, what are you doing here?

Posted by: Tony on July 3, 2009 6:36 AM

Tony, I think he's here because it's the only place he can get really good "rabbit food" :-)

Posted by: Carroll on July 3, 2009 12:14 PM

i never liked UA858. NW is much better.

Posted by: cookie on July 3, 2009 12:21 PM

I am here for business trip. Will be back on July 9th. Carroll, I started to enjoy seafood here, but lunch was still PHO noodle.

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang on July 3, 2009 1:02 PM

Welcome, Jian Shuo! Let us know if you have time for a meetup. Also, you may find some places closed over this holiday weekend. Many businesses and government offices will be closed tomorrow, but stores and restaurants should be open. Lots of stores and some restaurants will be closed on Saturday but keep looking, you will always find someone who wants to make money even on a holiday. If you want to see a characteristic American Fourth of July parade, they have a very good one in Redwood City -- you could even take Caltrain there.

Posted by: Nina Thorsen on July 3, 2009 1:27 PM

Hi Nina, nice to hear from you again. This time, I will spend my one week trip only in Palo Alto, with a side trip to Mount View, and San Jose for two meetings. That's it. So there is no meetup this time. Hope the next time.

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang on July 3, 2009 1:32 PM

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Bye bye Shanghai for a while, and I will be back soon. I don't expect the trip will interrupt blogging - I will just suffer a little bit of time zone difference, and not sure how to keep the one post per day guideline - so I just post "randomly" when I want to.

have a nice trip!

Posted by: Bill on July 2, 2009 11:35 AM

Jianshuo, safe trip and have a great time!

Posted by: Raymond on July 2, 2009 5:09 PM

bye bye Jianshuo, please take more pictures!

Posted by: Mike on July 2, 2009 8:08 PM

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The first US trip made me excited for weeks ahead of it, and now, it becomes another working day. However, my personality type always welcomes difference, and loves something new, not routine, and travel (including business travel) is the most exciting thing.

The improvement this time is, I made a check list of important things:

1. Passport
   
2. Credit Card
   
3. 100 USD cash + some changes.
   
4. Driver's License and an English translation.
   
5. Laptop and chargers
   
6. Mobile phone and chargers
   
7. Camera and chargers
   
8. Network cable
   
9. My notebook and several pens
   
10. My name card
    
11. Small gifts

See you in US.

P.S. In case you haven't followed this blog long enough, I am flying to San Francisco
P.S.2 Ashish, I really cannot fly to your city. The next time, OK?

type error? I guess should be July 2 to July 3 ?

Posted by: kukoo on July 2, 2009 12:33 AM

Safe travels and happy landings to you, Jian Shuo :-)

Posted by: Carroll on July 2, 2009 1:26 AM

Hey Jianshuo,

As a fellow ENFP, I am very disappointed I cannot meet up with you on this U.S. trip. I will be in Toronto, Princeton, and Connecticut for next 2 weeks. I hope you have a good trip, and cross paths with you at future time. Safe travels, and see you next time!

Posted by: Joshua Allen on July 2, 2009 4:00 PM

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My first two years was spent in Minghang Campus of Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Two years later, I moved back to the Xujiahui Campus of SJTU. That was where my current Baixing office is located - the dorm is about 200 meters from my office building.

In 1999, Wendy and I moved to a cheap apartment in Meilong.

3 years later, we very happily moved to the Vanke Waltz Garden near the Caobao Road Metro Station of Metro Line #1. That was wonderful time. The only problem is the noisy Caobao Road.

Then we sold out the apartment, and moved to Pudong in 2004. Look at the back and forth, and twist and the final process of our moving:

• Moving to the New Apartment May 29, 2004
• First Week in Pudong Apr 10, 2004
• Digitally and Physically Move Apr 8, 2004
• Life in Pudong Started Apr 5, 2004
• Continue to Seek for an Apartment Mar 2, 2004
• Bye Bye, Pudong Feb 29, 2004

Traffic is the Key Driver

This year is the toughest year in terms of transportation in Shanghai. With the development of all the metro stations, key roads, and preparing for the Shanghai Expo the next year, the whole Shanghai has never been so jammed, and crowded.

According to the news report I heard ten minutes ago on Shanghai Radio Station, there are 200+ metro stations under construction today, with most stations at the busiest cross roads. There are more than 1000 roads under construction, including the Inner Ring Pudong part, and middle ring in Pudong. There are more than 8000 construction sites in down town Shanghai. It seems unbelievable. If you count the recent collapsed 13-story residential building, the whole picture is more amazing.

It is not surprising for me to find out I have to drive along all the construction sites to work everyday. The previous 40-45 minutes drive has extended to 1 hour and 10 minutes, and sometimes 1 hour and half hour. The even more terrible thing is, since everyone try to get to work at the same time, it becomes mission impossible to get to office at 9:00 AM. No matter how early you try, you arrive at relatively the same time.

I am Moving Back

Finally, we decided to move back to Puxi - somewhere near where I work, and get back to the exciting, ever-bright, crowded, and noisy Puxi. We signed the contract today, and will move back. It takes about one month or so to move.

Puxi, we are back!

My Story, and the Shanghai Story

My story is just one of the millions of stories around where to live in Shanghai. I'd love to share just to help my friends understand what the real life in Shanghai looked like - my choices of Yifan's school, and my choices of where to live.

That's exciting. I'm sure that the Yifan school issue was also a factor in the back of your mind. Look forward to hearing about your new home!

Posted by: Elliott Ng on June 29, 2009 8:42 PM

To XuJianHui?

Posted by: stephen on June 30, 2009 12:18 AM

HI NEIGHBOR, your leaving puxi, we did not even have time to say hello :) Was it something I said ? (IM JOKING) To be closer to work I assume ? Good move.

Posted by: Andy on June 30, 2009 12:41 AM

Puxi is definitely considered better than Pudong. :)

JianShuo, This is not related to the title of the blog entry. But, I'm considering moving back to China from Australia. I've been in the consulting industry for 3 years in a global IT consulting firm. How difficult would it be for people like me in finding a job in Shanghai?

James

Posted by: James Shao on June 30, 2009 9:52 AM

Welcome back.
Close to our church's meeting place and you are welcome.

Posted by: hippy on June 30, 2009 10:23 AM

uuu.... no more weekend camping site for Yifan. Anyway, you can always drive to Century Park over the weekend and setup your camp again :)

Posted by: DC on June 30, 2009 10:42 AM

I'm curious, WSJ, are you renting or buying a place? How big is your new place?

Posted by: Dezza on June 30, 2009 10:58 AM

JS,

I was wondering if Yifan's education is one of the reasons you moved back to Puxi.

Anyway, glad you moved back to the "real Shanghai" :)

Posted by: Stephen on June 30, 2009 11:22 AM

It is definitely one factor, but the key factor is to move closer to where I work - now it is about 30 minutes walking distance (1.8 km) away, and I can either drive (which I think I won't do very often), or take public transportation (two stops away).

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang on June 30, 2009 10:32 PM

I think 30 minutes walking distance is acceptable and enjoy the real am 8 shanghai not too bad as well .

Posted by: HJ on June 30, 2009 11:39 PM

maybe this is my first time write here.
I read your blog long ago
I have lived in shanghai for 4years.also,i change 5 times for a good live place.now i living at meilong too,near to huadong university.welcome to back

Posted by: feeling on July 1, 2009 5:46 PM

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This weekend is another crowded weekend. Out of my window in the apartment in Pudong, I saw batches of house agents bringing their client to visit one house after another. I guess there are about 20 of them.

In the morning, when I leave my apartment early, the house agents are already standing at the entrance, and distribute their flyers - some rude one just throw it into our car window. At each intersection of our area (Chengshan Road and Jinxiu Road in Pudong), there are house agents occupying each of the four quarters. Some of them layout tables and some layout some bill boards, and others just standing there with their iconic ties, white shirts, or a badge.

Look at the house price, it went on and on and on and on to the north. A recent report I read from the Youth Daily, the second hand house volume in the first half year has been higher than the last year the whole year.

My suspected reasons are:

1) Loans and Morgages are loosened. Most of the restrictions on second and third house loans are lifted, and people can get loans as they wish.

2) The expectation for large scale RMB inflation.

I don't know the reason (and I cannot confirm it), but I can confirm what I saw these days - a crazy market with huge volumes of transaction. Just count how many houses around myself (my friends) were sold out or bought - it is more than the last two year combined.

looks like the rental price going to again... and the rich going to richer in Shanghai... and the middle class will not able to have their own house... sigh...

Posted by: DC on June 29, 2009 12:15 AM

1. Seems like you enjoy talking this topics again and again.
2. isn't it a good sign ? China or Shanghai is booming ! Everyone seems to be interested in property investment. Don't you want to jump into the wagon as well ?
3. There is abundance of opportunities in Shanghai. Only the hardworking one will yield the benefits. And the lazy one will be left behind. Grab the oppotunities now !
4. This is new China !

Posted by: kbguy on June 29, 2009 1:00 AM

Just like the United States, this too, shall end badly.

On a separate note, did you see the story about that fallen building in Shanghai? Or, rather did you see the 13 story fallen building?

The quality of all of this construction is highly questionable.

Posted by: Давид on June 30, 2009 5:22 AM

the funny thing after the building collapse, all the 13 floors are still intact... in one piece! It didn't break into pieces.

Posted by: DC on June 30, 2009 10:12 AM

China is the equivalent of Japan in 1986 in fostering the largest bubble in human history. I will give it another 3 to 5 years before it crashes and burns. Until that happens, lots and lots of capital, resources and people will be sucked into that vortex of Chinese mania, aided by the government-dominated media propoganda and misleading articles of bloggers such as Mr Wang. Lots of people will ultimately shed tears and even blood for that.

The career path of the two most-idolized sportsmen in China, Liu Xiang and Yao Ming, vividly symbolizes the future trajectory of that China or Shanghai balloon.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=As8ViSgrrJCLqtcubrGnSbC8vLYF?slug=aw-yaorockets062909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-1046475/China-distraught-Liu-Xiangs-Achilles-heel-dashes-golden-dream.html

Posted by: shanghai-ren on June 30, 2009 10:16 AM

hey, i dont think in shanghai a couple can easily afford house down payment about 200K RMB in 6-9 years just depend themselves. BTW, as the 200k rmb for 20 percent down payment you could calculated the house total price and definitely the suburb area.

Posted by: HJ on June 30, 2009 11:15 PM

Guess a lot of foreign funds (or even TARP residue or "queasy" money) is coming in since the rest of the real estate & loans market worldwide is practically dead. Talk is cheap but now money is even cheaper!

Posted by: Jet So on July 1, 2009 9:46 AM

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The other day, I chatted with my friend in Google, and he asked me what is the future of eCommerce in China, and is there any new model that they need to follow.

My guess is, for the eCommerce to work in China, we just need to make some services work, and not neccessarily to be a new model.

If a website does not ask so much useless information and people can simply buy from an eCommerce site without all the hassle, why eCommerce haven't become so popular?

If online payment works, so when people want to pay, they can pay, that is a huge drive.

"It simply works" is a very high standard to archive. Check out the website offering second car service. Can they really sell? Look at the classified site. The simply question is, can I get a cheap apartment or second hand there, without checking many spam listing?

Google simply worked, Craigslist simply worked like a magic, and Paypal just did one thing that it promised - to send money safely to your friends' account, nothing than that.

If you build a service that is simply working, that will spread like wild fire.

"If you build a service that is simply working, that will spread like wild fire."

Simple is the power.

Posted by: Balon on June 27, 2009 10:32 AM

建硕，转载了这篇文章，谢谢啦，如有不妥，我将及时删除:)

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5e6f480a0100eydw.html

Posted by: cheery on June 28, 2009 1:44 AM

any website which use China's server is damn slow !! The connection time takes so long and one good example is msn.cn

Posted by: kbguy on June 28, 2009 6:08 PM

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• The Chinese Government requires all computer to ship with a porn-filtering software, Green Dam by July 1, 2009. The order came out 10 days before the deadline.
  
• Netizen and computer manufacture reacted strong and criticized the censorship software.
  
• Reverse engineering of the Green Dam shows it is not just a porn-filter software. Huge amount of politics related keywords are banned, including many foreign websites, and common word like "conscience". It is further confirmed that the software directly used unlicensed code from Solid Ork.
  
• Under the huge pressure of the netizen, the government used the method they used many many times, including 20 years ago - to create a media campaign to "educate" the whole nation to understand the situation.
  
• CCTV used three major program "Evening News", "Focus", "News 1+1" to accuse Google for spreading porn content, and tell the nation that porn content has been everywhere and at finger tip of every child.
  
• Xinhua News immediately commented that "Now it is the time to be conscious of the severity of the situation, and stop all argument immediately and take action."
  
• Immediately after the CCTV program was broadcast, people find out the college student being interviewed in the program is actually working as an intern in CCTV Focus program.
  
• It is further revealed that the samples to accuse the Google Auto Suggestion feature was also fake. In the program, when you enter "Son", Google suggested "Son Mother", and other keywords. Look at the search query index, you find out that the terms were queried hundreds of times more than before since 2 days before the broadcast. The query mainly comes from Beijing in a precious machine generating pattern.
  
• Google.cn was asked to stop suggestion tools, and stop searching any content outside of China. Google did.
  
• Google.com and most other Google properties, including Google Mail, Google AdSense, Google Maps, Google Analytics... stopped working yesterday

This government has no interest in improving Chinese people's lives. The only thing they care is their own survival. Laws are not created to maintain justice but for the government to manipulate and persecute people when they feel the need to.

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history”

I started to understand why some people were so irritated by what Obama said.

So much for the People's Republic. These leaders are just so very scared of their people.

Posted by: one on June 26, 2009 6:27 AM

Would the Shanghaidaily then be in trouble for publishing negative articles about the Green Dam ?

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=404970&type=Feature

Posted by: rwm on June 26, 2009 7:54 AM

I'm wondering whether or not you can find the same 'vulgar' content on Baidu or other (Chinese or foreign search engines) and whether or not the motivation behind these attacks on Google are to protect Baidu's home country competitive advantage?

Posted by: Dezza on June 26, 2009 10:10 AM

Baidu Japan (www.baidu.jp) is always my favorite porno search engine.

Posted by: Porno searcher on June 26, 2009 11:03 AM

Hi Jian Shuo - hope u, Wendy and Yifan are keeping well... just wanted to let you know that yesterday an article was posted on the Singapore OMY website - short interview with me as a finalist for the 2009 SG Blog Awards... one question was around which bloggers I admire / look up to (anywhere around the world) - no surprise I spoke of you and your blog. Take a look at their article: http://blog.omy.sg/sgblogawards/archives/491

Kind regards,

Pete

Posted by: AussiePB on June 26, 2009 12:08 PM

very stupid and mind-bogling for them to waste vast amounts of resources, money, time, people; imagine they devote all this effort to fight poverty and corruption!

Posted by: Tony on June 26, 2009 3:29 PM

The 'Big Brother' have watched enough of you!

Now he is placing the netizen in the 'Room 101' for the 'love' from the Party Bureau.

Posted by: stephen on June 26, 2009 11:42 PM

Dear Mr. Wang,
I noticed a small typo - at the end of bullet point 3, the name of the company is Solid Oak, not Solid Ork.

Posted by: egg on June 27, 2009 6:10 AM

The world has changed. Yes, I agree that alot of things that internet has done to influence the younger generation. Some are good and some are bad. So there should be some kind of control. Pornography, on-line gaming and propaganda has drastic bad influence to the pc kids. Foreign media sometimes also play some bad role especially on new reporting, and you know why. One example is the Tian'anmen incident which was brought back again and again, and for what purpose ??? Let be gone and be gone. What good can it do ? Let China handle it's past problem alone. What past is past. Nobody would want it to happen in that way. It's useless to propagate the incident and provote the younger generations. So, the only way to stop this "free press' is by blocking the news. That's the best for the Chinese at least.
Do you encourage free porn just like the west ? I believe no. We are chinese with lots of culture and tradition. Do not let the west to influence our culture. One of our culture which is practice all over the world is to respect our elders especially the elderly people. That is our gem and most precious assets.
Just to share with you some culture brought into China by the west which I personally experience. I was in Beijing early this month and stayed a night at Peking Youth Hostel. The hostel staff put me in a small sharing room with a young western lady. 2-in a room. I was shocked this Peking Youth Hostel with so much chinese designed (courth house) can do such an arrangement. I asked for another dorm, no mix. They say this is their way they operate. They gave me a kind of look as if I am so backwards. Is this what you call modernization ? Puting aside our own precious customs and adopt the west ? And worst of all, the western girl sleeps with only her panty and a tight T-shirt !!!
So, what I am trying to say is .. China is doing her very best for it's people. Don't complaint. China has grow and is developing and has proven to the whole world. Of course along the way, there are some who might have a sore eye to see this happening !
What they are doing is for people's own good.

Posted by: kbguy on June 28, 2009 6:01 PM

very sad to read kbguy's comments, but so many young chinese think that way as well! imagine these kinds of people leading the country in the future...china is hopeless if these people obtain power :-(

Posted by: Tony on June 29, 2009 3:04 AM

I have to agree with Tony, kbguy's comments are painful to read. I know that kbguy's comments can't be used to blanketly understand the thoughts of an entire nation, and Jianshuo is definitive proof that there are intelligent and level Chinese populating the Internet with more than ignorant rhetoric, but man... you can only read comments like kbguy's so many times before it starts souring an otherwise open-minded and hopeful view about China.

@kbguy: 1. Porn is NOT a Western import. Pornography has existed in China as long, and probably much longer, than it has in the West. This "protect the sanctity of our glorious culture and traditions" is BS - straight-up naive BS.

China may be doing its best for its people, but that's no reason for those people not to demand more, lest "China" get lazy and forget that China IS its people. Also, please don't assume that all Westerners that take a critical eye towards China "have a sore eye" towards China's development. Governments care about the power and might of other nations - citizens rarely do - most Westerners are happy to hear that China is developing, changing and adopting a more modern and free society.

And finally, if you don't prefer to stay with young, tight-shirted, pantie wearing Western girls; stay in a non-YOUTH-plagued single-occupancy hotel - where you will surely get a number of nightcalls for those traditional and cultural "extra services".

Posted by: Ryan on June 29, 2009 12:28 PM

@kbguy, are you part of the 50 cent army?
Only half-joking...
In this regard, being aware that there are supposedly lots of people who get paid when writing such kinds of comments, makes it very difficult to take such comments seriously. Again an example of how media manipulation can fail in today's age.

Posted by: Carsten on June 29, 2009 2:31 PM

I respect you gals and guys opinion. As I said earlier or in any which way, there are good and bad part, advantage and diadvantage of internet. But there should be some form of control. To satisfy all will be a tough one. And i agree there are good westerners and bad westerners and also good asian and bad asian. Maybe I said it the wrong way and that confuse some of you fellas. However, the end point is that.. pick up the good habit and throw away the bad ones.
last but not least, stay happy and stay inteligent. And thanks to those who responded to my comment, No hard feelings. It need 2 to make a dialoque.And make it a happy and interesting one. Be it alive !!

Posted by: kbguy on June 29, 2009 8:51 PM

@kbguy, as always, thanks for sharing your thought, although other readers and me don't agree on what you said. It is not about control itself. It is all about who do it. Is it a government reflecting the will of the people, or someone who got the power because of historical reasons. I also suspect that conscious people collectively won't lean to the control part - freedom is part of human right that everyone has.

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang on June 29, 2009 10:58 PM

Looks like Google is back on. Did they 'bend the knee' or 'prostrate' themselves sufficiently this time?

Posted by: Jet So on July 1, 2009 9:54 AM

Intresting post!

Posted by: Janilink on July 2, 2009 3:11 AM

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This is a very nice campaign - it engages users because everyone is curious, and everyone wants to spread out the word if they feel they are pretty early bird - like myself. Another even more successful campaign I participated was the Send Your Name to the Mars.

Here is the date I registered Hotmail.

09:06:41 July 11, 1997

What does the date tells?

• It tells that I was still in Shanghai Jiaotong University.
  
• It tells that it is the starting of a summer after I completed my first two years of university.
  
• It reminded me that I registered Hotmail at the No. 3 Dorm of SJTU - the building is right outside my window now.
  
• It reminded me that at that time, Hotmail is still using the red Globe+Stamp logo.
  
• It tells that is one year and a week since Hotmail was launched on July 4, 2006.
  
• It tells that is two years 11 days before MSN Messenger service was launched.
  
• It tells that Hotmail at that time was still an independent company invested by DFJ, and 7 months away from Microsoft's acquisition, and I was two year away from joining Microsoft.

that's interesting.. mine was 2000.

Posted by: QiHui on June 25, 2009 6:30 AM

China's server is so slow. So is MSN China.

Posted by: kbguy on June 25, 2009 8:09 AM

hotmail sucks

Posted by: Alex on June 25, 2009 9:58 AM

This post's title should be "I Use Hotmail Since 1997".

Posted by: rui on June 25, 2009 10:37 AM

wired, why did not Micorosoft use silverlight to build the home page of this campaign?

Posted by: CB on June 26, 2009 6:05 PM

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Converting San Francisco Time to Beijing Time

Although there are many tools doing the conversation, I found many tools converted the time wrong, since the new change of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 in US extended one month of daylight saving

locks were set ahead one hour on the second Sunday of March (March 11, 2007) instead of on the first Sunday of April (April 1, 2007). Clocks were set back one hour on the first Sunday in November (November 4, 2007), rather than on the last Sunday of October (October 28, 2007).
--- Wikipedia contributors, 'Energy Policy Act of 2005', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 June 2009, 01:21 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005&oldid=296664740> [accessed 16 June 2009]

When it is hot (summer time), the difference between Beijing and San Francisco is becoming less (from formal 16 hours to 15 hours).

The strict way to do the calculation is, always add 15 hours in summer time or 16 hours in winter time to San Francisco time to get the right Beijing time.

For example, a meeting starts at 7:00 PM, June 20, 2009 = 10 AM, June 21, 2009 - my most preferred time to call.

A easier way is to flip the AM and PM, and advance by 3 hours in hot time, and 4 hours in cold time.

Beijing Time to US Time

The way to calculate it is also easy: flip the AM and PM, and backward 3 hours (in hot time), or 4 hours (in cold time).

Hope I can always do the calculation right.

What time is it now? 22:43:37, June 23, 2009 - that is 7:43:37, June 23, 2009 in US.

P.S. China adopted Day Time Saving, but abandoned the practice.

Thankgodness....I never need to think about these.......

Posted by: chenshi on June 25, 2009 10:23 AM

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Today, he posted a blog entry with title Deep Calm. I like the post a lot, especially the first simple paragraph.

I’m sitting in the early dawn light in a cabin in Tabernash, Colorado drinking a cup of coffee and getting ready to go for a run in the mountains.

On the communication part, Time really matters. To stay uninterrupted for long enough is essential to have meaningful communication. Feld's suggestion is really a proven way to run a business.

Christina talked about mvm's blog the other day. He mentioned a word - unhurried. Well. This is exactly the state I feel I am far away from. When I was in Microsoft - a big company, a nice internal supporting system, a decent package, and less burden from family, what a life it was!

Unhurried - that was exactly the word to describe my life before: you don't have to rush back home to take care of kids, and you don't have to spend hours with him/her (Don't get me wrong, I am very happy about it - but it does consume a lot of time), and you still have luxurious time to have a cup of coffee with friends - on weekend! On the business side, the least worried person in the company is you. You don't care about P&L of the company, or even the devision, and you only need to complain the welfare the company provides, or the quality of free lunch + dinner, and complain about there are just 20 types of coke and soft drink in the kitchen. You also read news, but none of them really involves you. That was exactly my life before 2005. Unhurried. Yes. I just found out the word. Thanks Christina for picking up the right word.

I really need to think about whether I should lead an unhurried life today, a pressure free life?

Calm down. Really Calm Down...

some people said get busy living or get busy dying
i think enjoying your state or trying to change is the point。

Posted by: lin on June 27, 2009 10:55 AM

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Hello Jian Shuo,

I´ve discovered your blog since I´ve been looking for information about travelling to Shanghai. We have planned our hollidays this year visiting Shanghai so we´ll observe the 22 july total solar eclipse. We realised that one of the best place in conditions to observe the eclipe is on shore in Jinshanwei. The fact is that day, our lodge is located in an hotel in Shanghai and as far as we have to arrive to Jinshan before 9.41 am, I´m concerned about how to cover the distance between Shanghai and Jinshan and how long does it takes the trip, so it happens in a labour day. What´s your opinion? Do you recommend to go by taxi? How much aprox would it cost? If not, better by bus? Where to leave from?. I haven´t found any information about it in the net.

Sorry for so many questions, but for us, this eclipse is a very important part of our travel, and I´m very concerned about the transportation.

Thank you very much for your help.

Where is Jinshanwe?

Here is the Google Map, and you can see the location:

Jinshanwei is sandwiched by Shanghai and Hangzhou, and is at the shore of the Hangzhou Bay.

It is at the end of A4 highway, and at the intersection of A6. If you know how big the Suburb Ring A30 is, what I can tell you is, it is far beyond the A30.

It is 70 km away from the city center.

How to Get There

There are several options: taxi and bus.

Taxi

It seems taxi is the only feasible approach for foreigners to get there. It takes at least 200 RMB to get there, but it is very convenient. Call any taxi on the street, and tell the driver to bring you there. I am sure the drive will be very happy - like winning lottery that day.

It takes about one hour there.

Metro + Bus

If you want to save money and you are adventurous, you can try to use public transportation. Here is how you get there.

1. Take Metro Line #1 and get to Lianhua Road Station 莲花路站. I will ignore the steps to get to Metro Line #1 - check a metro map. At Lianhua Road station, make sure you get to the South Square of station - exit first, and use the underground tunnel to get to the other side of railway.

2. Take Lianshi Line 莲石专线 at the South Square of Lianhua Road. Get to the terminal station, and you are at Jinshan area. This can be very cheap - I guess it is something around 10-20 RMB.

What is next? I have no idea. I guess you may have a plan.

Good luck!

How do I get to Xiamen from Guanzhou ? Any suggestion from the readers ?
And from Xiamen to Nan Ann.

Posted by: kbguy on June 22, 2009 6:55 PM

kbguy, Xiamen is Guangzhou is one end to the other. It is still quite a distance. Probably at least another hour by flight.

Posted by: DC on June 22, 2009 8:14 PM

It is one hour flight. Here is the flight connecting Guangzhou and Xiamen:

南航
CZ3723 新白云机场
高崎机场 07:50
08:55 321 50/0 660
所有舱位 5.2折340
退改签 －
海航
HU7787 新白云机场
高崎机场 08:00
09:00 738 50/0 660
所有舱位 5.2折340
退改签 －
厦航
MF8306 新白云机场
高崎机场 09:05
10:15 738 50/0 660
所有舱位 8.4折550
退改签 －
上航
FM9348 新白云机场
高崎机场 13:35
14:45 757 50/0 660
所有舱位 9.2折610
退改签票量紧张 －
南航
CZ3807 新白云机场
高崎机场 14:35
15:45 319 50/0 660
所有舱位 8折530
退改签 －
厦航
MF8334 新白云机场
高崎机场 14:35
15:40 737 50/0 660
所有舱位 －
－
南航
CZ3805 新白云机场
高崎机场 19:50
21:05 319 50/0 660
所有舱位 －
－
厦航
MF8302 新白云机场
高崎机场 21:55
23:00 738 50/0 660
所有舱位 －
－

Don't try to use train - it is very far.

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang on June 22, 2009 11:18 PM

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I always believe Microsoft is a great company - the greatest company I saw so far, but I know many people regret quitting Microsoft too late - 7 years for me is too long.

I talked about why more in this Chinese article: Standing on the Shoulder of a Great Company

Explore while you are young !

Posted by: kbguy on June 22, 2009 6:52 PM

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Back from the trip to Nanjing - a government meeting on media regulations. It is maybe the only government meeting I attend every year. The meeting is in Nanjing International Convention Center, in the same mountain area with Zhong Shan Ling. I like that area a lot - the place we should definitely visit more often.

Nanjing Blogger

Most of the photos I saw about Nanjing came from http://lifetea.org/?pg=2. She started blog 5 months before I did (her first blog), and from the first one, I saw a long-long-long-long-time-no-see name: Tiger Cafe. Yes. In the old happy days in 2002, not so many bloggers in this world. Tiger cafe has stopped update in 2004. Christina, me, Isaac, and Robert are still writing our blogs. BTW, Christina and I was not as aggressive as the other two. Their blogs have been blocked by GFW many times - an acknowledgment of the depth of "harmful information" by the government.

Shizilin Street

We had lunch at Shizilin Street - the pedestrian street with many restaurant.

Nanjing is just a normal crowded city like most cities I visited. I am very sure it is my own fault, not the city's fault, since Christina always have nice photos of the city from her camera: the decent, the beautiful, the sensitive all captured. Example 1, example 2...

This is the fifth (if not the sixth) visit for me to Nanjing. I like Hangzhou just because the life there is so nice, but I enjoy Nanjing more because of the history - it is the capital of Republic of China anyway.

Moving back to Puxi

Still working on moving back to Puxi - see if it is possible at all. Seems a big step for me today. Let's see.

There is an old saying "A bunk in Puxi is preferred over a house in Pudong".

I have an apartment at Metro Cosmopolitan, but the situation there is rapidly deteriorating.......... it is too crowded!

Posted by: stephen on June 20, 2009 3:22 AM

Greeting in our startings!

Posted by: lexa on June 20, 2009 12:21 PM

Take care! I have apartment too... and?

Posted by: Saddy on June 21, 2009 7:33 AM

Take care! I have apartment too... and?

Posted by: Saddy on June 21, 2009 7:37 AM

I also blog about Nanjing. And at present, I am blogging about Beijing, after my return from there 2 weeks ago.Please drop by.

Posted by: kbguy on June 21, 2009 7:47 PM

呵呵，我的母校地。

:) 建硕，又借用了你的元宵节拍的 烟火 图片，我觉得非常非常美，沉默的美:-D

《听着你的歌长大 致家驹》

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5e6f480a0100ev3q.html

非常感谢啦，如果不合适，我就及时删除啊，咯咯:)

Posted by: cheery on June 21, 2009 11:49 PM

Live as though you intend to live forever, and work as though your strength were limitless.

Posted by: air jordans on June 22, 2009 10:34 AM

来南京也不通知一声，真不够意思~

Posted by: Christina on June 22, 2009 12:09 PM

TIGER CAFE就是现在的中国茶，呵呵~
自2004年开始到现在从未间断blog。

Posted by: Christina on June 22, 2009 12:55 PM

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