Million Miler Club

Posted on August 2, 2013 by sinyaw

July 23rd, 2013

“Excuse me,” a burly man rammed through the queue to the head, murmuring. “Global Services.” As for royalties, people yielded him the position ahead, even that everyone had been standing full 20 minutes before his arrival. In this universe of United Airlines, the words “Global Services” command the utmost respect. Never mind the miles you have flown and hours of life you spent in those airports. If you don’t contribute enough revenue to the airline, the best you can get is the “1K” status. UA would not divulge exactly how much revenue would earn you the status, only with a vague verbiage of “it is awarded to our best customers.”

As the port-belly guy settled at the head of the queue, still finishing his sandwich, his fellow queue-mate inquired, “So, how many miles you have to fly to get GS?” “Oh, I don’t know,” he answered nonchalantly. “I have about 2.5 millions miles so far.” I was flabbergasted. A jet plane flies at about 500 miles an hour. This guy lives on airplanes.

I became a business traveler in about 2004, flying mostly cross-pacific routes: San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo. Business travels require a very different mind-set than personal vacations. So that you can “hit the ground and running,” you optimize everything to preserve time and energy: hand-carry luggage whenever possible, strategize to get through the TSA line quicker, avoid the queue at the car-rental counter, take exit row to rest better, manage battery lives and store files locally to work on the airplane, induce sleep to adjust for jet-lags, exercise to maintain sanity, read eBooks, instead of paper books, to reduce weight, etc. Very few business travelers enjoy traveling on business. Most will gladly give up his GS status to sleep in his own bed.

Today, I joined the “million miler” club. I got a boost when the United/Continental merger converted all my “award miles” to “flown miles.” Next time you see me, I will sadly accept your condolence.

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Wild

Posted on July 30, 2013 by sinyaw

Civilizations and religions knew about the link between mind and body. ShaoLin Temple’s Kung-Fu was invented as a passage to Buddhism. To become a Buddha, you need to control your mind. To control your mind, you need to control your body. To practice controlling the body, you practice these things that happen to be also make you good at defending yourself.

So many wrote about the magic transformation or redemption via a long and punishing physical endeavor. How is Cheryl Strayed’s long walk through part of the Pacific Crest Trail not boring? So I checked at the library. Holy Guacamole! There are 200 people waiting for 75 copies (digital session). OK then. I entered the queue.

Conveniently, right before the long trip, the book digitally arrived from the library. (I really like Seattle Public Library’s digital services.) I loaded it up to my Kindle and boarded the airplane. Well, Cheryl Strayed somehow managed to grip my attention literally every step of her journey. She was stupid, stubborn, lonely, and hungry. I read about her transformation through the scenery of the trail. I shook my head, laughed, and worried for her. I fantasized hiking the trail and knew that I will never.

Clearly, Cheryl is no longer poor. Apparently, this book is becoming a movie too.

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Taipei’s Night Markets

Posted on July 26, 2013 by sinyaw
The blood and gall bladder of poisonous snakes are known to better one’s manhood and prevent STDs. This night market is actually next to the only legal “red light district” in Taipei many decades ago. They used to slaughter snakes, auction style, and serve the blood and gall bladder in shot glasses (mixed with hard liquor). The winner of the auction would throw down the shot, receive applause from the surrounding crowd, and disappear into the club for his conquest.

If you visit Taipei, do not miss the night markets 夜市 (Ye Shi). There are many in any city, just ask the concierge, taxi driver, or anyone on the street, “Is there a night market around here?” The most famous one is in ShiLin 士林, but, honestly, it has become a bit too touristy for me. Then there is the Snake Alley 華西街　night market. If you are too lazy to go far, my favorite are the ones at TongHua Street 通化街夜市　and NaoHe Street 饒河街夜市.

Night Markets are collections of street vendors, most selling foods but many for whatever. Foods are generally priced. Others you can haggle and negotiate. They usually accept only cash.

Skip dinner, bring your adventurous mood, and grab a friend or two. It is best if someone can interpret for you. The vendors are usually owners and rarely speak English. But many of your fellow adventurers might.

Do not miss stinky tofu 臭豆腐, fried oysters　蚵仔煎, and shaved ice　刨冰. Deep fried chicken nuggets 鹽酥雞　are very good. The general idea is, “Hmm, what’s this? Never heard of it before. Let’s try it.” The main draw to these night markets will be food, not shopping. Many street vendors peddle whatever, they are usually cheap stuffs or knock-offs. When in doubt, don’t buy. If you feel like it, try haggling a bit.

At the end of the street, you should expect tired feet and satisfied stomach.

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Victoria, BC

Posted on July 10, 2013 by sinyaw

June 30th, 2013

In this record heat-wave weekend, the Pacific Northwest basked in glorious sun and mid-80°F. We dusted off our sunglasses and tried hard to rub some tan into our fish belly skin tone. It was a perfect weekend to visit Victoria.

Victoria City is part of Vancouver Island which is part of the British Columbia province of Canada. Geographically, it is actually closer to the USA, only a few miles from San Juan and about 80 miles north of Seattle. It is a small tourist town teeming with shops, hotels, restaurants, and bars. The Inner Harbor was busy with all kinds of activities. Most people were simply relaxing and enjoying the nice day.

Butchart Gardens (Canadians say Butch-Art, instead of Bu-Chart) is a must-see. There are all kinds of arrangements available to get there. A bus ride that includes the admission is slightly less than $60. If you are disciplined on time, you can also take bus ($2.50 plus admission at about $30). This garden is worth about 2 hours of casual walking around. If you stop to smell every rose, it will take all day.

Other than eating, drinking, and shopping, there are several nice museums. The Royal BC Museum is about natural history. The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is more about art. To go there from downtown, take any bus at the corner of Fort and Douglas and head east. Get off at Fernwood. While you are there, visit Craigdarroch Castle to understand what it mean to display wealth conspicuously. To get back to town, walk up one block to Yates and reverse your previous route. Buses are pretty much the only transaction that does not accept US money. So get your Canadian money ready.

The heavily promoted afternoon tea at Empress Hotel is staggering $60 each person. Instead, we went to Murchie’s on Government Street and spent less than that for all 4 of us. The teas, coffee, and munchies were excellent. Of course we did not get fancy china, classy furniture, and grandiose decor. But I would probably pick Murchie’s over Empress every time.

Other than Butchart Gardens, I cannot come up with many things Victoria has and Seattle does not. The inner harbor is very concentrated and everything is within walking distance, kind of like Pike Place Market. The bars and restaurants are about the same density and quality as Belltown and Queen Anne. If one is willing to go 30 minutes away from the city, there are also some very naturally beautiful places surrounding Seattle. I guess it is a nice weekend get-away for Pacific Northwesterners and a reasonable destination for far-away tourists who are also visiting Vancouver City. Definitely use Clipper for transportation if you start at Seattle. While you are there, check out the combo packages. Sometimes there are good deals.

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A Discovery of Witches

Posted on July 5, 2013 by sinyaw

Diana Bishop was born a witch, but she refused to practice or even use her innate abilities. She pursued a human career as a historian. One day, she studied an ancient manuscript and, unintentionally, unlocked its magical secret. That triggered a series of brutal pursuits and also, gradually, revealed the truth behind her parents’ violent and tragic deaths.

The world has 3 creatures — witches, daemons, and vampires — that live among humans. These creatures established a covenant to avoid being noticed by humans, lest being persecuted to extinction. The manuscript that Diana discovered may reveal the greatest secret of all: the origins of those creatures and how would they survive. But if fallen to the wrong hands, it may also become the ultimate weapon for one type of creature to control others.

Deborah Harkness pushed the envelope of genres. On the surface, this is a standard fantasy. It gradually turned into a love story, then family, then maturation, and lastly, an epic battle. She intertwined all those plots and sub-plots with ease. At the same time, managed to depict the characters vividly, adding depths and layers to the heroine protagonist, and her surrounding characters, as the story evolves. Interesting that there was really no antagonist, or villain, in this book. Peter Knox and Satu both had only minor roles and appeared only briefly. This is really about Diana Bishop’s struggle with herself: thus a maturation genre.

This first book of the trilogy ended with a journey to the unknown. Deborah did not even try to make this book whole by itself.

And that’s my biggest nit to pick. There is a difference between sequels and one story broken down into several books. Each of the sequels should be independent, that they can be read by themselves. Otherwise the author should have finished the whole story before publishing the first one. If I proceed to read book two, I would need to wait for the third book. And I knew that will be an agony.

Guess I should pace myself.

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Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop

Posted on June 30, 2013 by sinyaw

June 16th, 2013

Seattle is really more active than any place that I have lived. When people talk about their “long run” over the weekend, they meant starting at dawn and come back for shower after lunch time. They would have cover about 40 miles before others finish their brunches. The runner’s regimen takes Monday and Saturday off and increases the distance leading to the “long run” on Sunday. “Geez!” I thought, “These people run three Marathons a week!”

My regimen is much more relaxing. On weekdays, I run on treadmill for about 2 miles. On one of the weekend days, if weather is nice, I will run outdoor for about 3 miles. Then, I got inspired and decided to go for a “long run” this Sunday.

The Cheshiahud Loop is conveniently just about 6.4 miles. I began at the last stop of the Seattle Street Car and ran counter-clock-wise. Instead of hugging the shoreline, I ran along Eastlake. On the north shore, the trail overlaps with the Burke Gilman trail. This route crosses the University and Fremont bridges and cuts through the Gas Works park. It is scenic, almost no street lights or crossing, and shared only with fellow runners, walkers, or bikers.

There are so many coffee shops, bakeries, and bars along the way that I regretted not bringing any money. I muscled through to the end in slightly more than an hour and ended at the Mercer & Westlake street car stop. I reclined on a bench, took off my shoes, imagined a glass of cold beer, and a nice nap.

Happy Father’s Day.

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What to do in Taipei?

Posted on June 26, 2013 by sinyaw

So you are stopping by Taipei for whatever reasons and need to kill time. You heard that this is a vibrant city that offers many, many fun activities. The problem is that you don’t know any of them.

Here are my recommendations:

  • The Palace Museum (æ•…å®®): If you would do only one thing in Taipei, go to this museum. Take a taxi and prepare to spend at least 3 hours. There are English speaking docents, I don’t know if they take reservations.

  • Taipei 101: I know it is kind of cheesy, but the observation deck is worth visiting on a clear day. The gem of this tower is actually its food court in the basement. This is not your normal mall food court, almost everything here is delicious.

  • Chiang Kai-shek memorial park: (This park was, I think, renamed. But most knew it by this name.) If you are a performance art kind of a person, check out the events at the concert hall and opera house and try to get tickets. Early morning or dusk to early evening are the best time.

  • Night Markets (夜市): There are four to five night markets, they are all adventures of your life. Bring cash, full appetite, and an open mind. Best to have a Chinese speaking companion, but that is actually not required. Any college age kid will gladly help you out.

  • Yong Kang St. (永康街): This is the epicenter of the artisan eateries. Try a chocolate or dessert shop, or anything that appears to serve only one kind of food.

Been to all of the above and still looking thing to kill a day?

  • Find one of those artisan coffee shops and hang out with a friend for a couple of hours. There are so many of those that will grind and brew your coffee on the spot and use one of those fancy brewers. You can choose your own beans.

  • Hike YangMing shan (陽明山): A well developed park that is a bit hilly. Good casual stroll and nice views. There are local eateries along the way. Explore them.

  • Hike Elephant Hill (象山): This is a vigorous, but short, hike. You are likely to sweat profusely. Bring water and wear light clothes. The view to Taipei 101 is unbeatable.

  • Eat Beef Noodle (牛肉麵): Taipei has an annual beef noodle festival. Find a winner. I like mine spicy.

  • Eat 燒餅油條: I honestly don’t know how to translate. It is like salty churrors wrapped with Indian Naan. Don’t forget the soybean milk, or custard, that goes with it.

  • Visit a temple: I recommend either XingTian Gong 行天宮 Temple for Guan Gong 關公, an ancient hero turned god. Or LongShan Si 龍山寺. You get to experience Chinese indigenous religions.

  • Dan Shui (æ·¡æ°´): Take the subway and visit this village at the river delta. Arrive near sun set time. Hike up to the university before sun set. Make sure to visit the ferry pier and have a bowl of fish balls.

  • JiuFen (九份): A gold-mining town with lots of charm and history.

  • HuaLian (花蓮): This east Taiwan town has break-taking view, nice beaches, and lots of indigenous arts and foods. Better plan to stay over-night.

Posted in China, Tour guides | 1 Comment

Program Management Career Explained

Posted on June 17, 2013 by sinyaw

Program Managers own the list, probably not anything on the list, but the list itself. Owning means to make sure the items on the list got checked. Every now and then, they go back to the beginning and check them again. Rinse, lather, repeat. All good program managers organize their list hierarchically and gradually delegate some to others. But make no mistake, THE program manager owns THE list.

Program managers must have 4 fundamental skills: sociable personality, planning, communication, and organization. There are various programs — PMP, Six Sigmas, Scrum Master, etc. — to prove the existence, or the mastery, of these skills. However, the lack of those certificates does not indicate the absence of those skills.

With these fundamental skills, a program manager can proceed to acquire some domain expertise: software, procurement, brand management, operation, etc. It takes years, if not decades, to acquire these domain expertise.

Those fundamental skills gradually saturate: after a while, a PM only get slightly better with more years of expertise. In contrast, the domain expertise goes very far, frequently as long as a lifetime. The more effort one poured in, the better one becomes. But switching expertise is next to impossible. This is similar to sport or music. An excellent violinist or sprinter would also be a good general musician or athlete, but can hardly compete with an average pianist or swimmer at piano or swimming. For this reason, it is of critical importance to choose the right domain to study.

It is ideal that you ended up as the red star in this chart. At that position, you have excellent PM skills and even more impressive domain expertise. Imagine, after achieving that status, that you choose to switch to another domain. What you will end up is where the blue star is. You have lots of PM experience, but a relative novice in the new domain. (It’s like Michael Jordan trying to play baseball.) At that moment, if you face the competition of someone like the green star, an inexperienced PM with equally undeveloped domain expertise, which one will win?

Well, it depends. Is it easier for an experienced PM to acquire the domain expertise or for the young person to acquire both? Then the brutal truth of cost comes into play. How much does each cost to the employer?

Advice. Don’t end up as at the blue star position.

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Superpower Chess Game

Posted on June 13, 2013 by sinyaw

Let’s see, Xi JingPing and Barrack Obama met in Sunnylands, California, early June 7th. Months prior, all major news media berated China for all kinds of cyber criminal activities: piracy, hacking, spying, and downright stealing US’s advanced defense technologies.

Move #68, Obama: Embarrass Xi as a tactic to gain position for the meeting.

All of the sudden, we learned that NSA and CIA have been spying on the US citizens. In fact, according to Edward Snowden, they have been hacking China and other countries as well. This news broke out right before the Xi-Obama meeting.

Move #68, Xi: Neutralize attack by claiming propaganda from the US. Return fire. Embarrass Obama and bring up domestic political storm.

Don’t tell me that you really believed in those news stories.

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Not the Best Sequel

Posted on June 9, 2013 by sinyaw

The Twelve is the second of the Passage trilogy. The way Justin Cronin had it, I am not sure the third book is worth reading.

As Passage ended, I expected the “hunt” to continue. I wanted those protagonists to bond deeper in their joined quest. Or, equally entertaining, would be a new plot Justin Cronin would come up. If the first of the trilogy covered a century, why not jumped even further and do another epic adventure? The first book created so many possibilities: mutation, battling, telepathy, virus and genetics, etc. I was really hoping for creativity. But Justin Cronin fell in love with his words and forgot about story telling.

The climatic battle was startling, nerve wrecking, and very satisfying. This book is really about the evil and dark part of the human nature. The vampires and their ecological struggle with the planet earth was reduced to the background.

If you have not, go read book 1. This book 2 will be optional. I will probably read book 3 just because.

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