On a conference call to some folks back home this morning, they jokingly asked if I was ready to move to China, having spent the last three and some weeks here. I told them I wasn’t quite ready to go native, but I’ll admit that when I checked out of my hotel today, it did feel a little like I was moving out.
It turns out that (almost) four weeks is an awful long time! Surprisingly, two packs of gum and two travel-sized tubes of toothpaste were enough to last the whole trip. I was worried I’d run out. Unsurprisingly, four chocolate bars weren’t nearly enough. I was pretty sure I’d run out, but didn’t have room for any more.
Also not surprising: traveling to gorgeous places with my amazing friend Abe was much better than being alone (or with coworkers) and working in industrial cities. With that said, Suzhou is a big improvement (in my mind) over Dongguan. The gardens and temples are a little touristy and pretty busy on the weekend, but with good reason — they’re lovely.
It’s easy to take a ton of pictures, and I have a couple hundred from the past few weeks. Look for more soon. In the meantime, I’m excited to be heading home tomorrow!
posted June 1, 2011 – 8:36 pm
I shouldn’t be so surprised that it was really six years ago when I left Boston for parts unknown and wound up in Seattle, but the anniversary snuck up on me just the same. And another anniversary passed by completely unnoticed earlier this year — 10 years of blogging, come and gone. And, now that I think about it, it was 17 (!) years ago in May when I first started working at NIST, where I did some early web programming.
Somewhat amazingly, some of the database programs I wrote are still available! I remember just how excited I was to use a really early version of The GIMP to make this logo:
Even that was “later” in my tenure there. When I first arrived, we struggled to format scientific papers for the web as HTML didn’t (yet) have provisions for super- and subscripts. One of my first tasks was to modify a LaTeX-to-HTML translation program to automatically create images for superscripts, subscripts and equations that would then be included, in-line, with text to make it look like it was originally intended. Not a bad hack, and pretty cool that a government organization was on the leading edge of using technology (publishing physical reference data for free on the web) as well as developing it.
posted May 24, 2011 – 7:33 am
For pretty much the first time in the 3+ years I’ve been going to China, I’m taking some time to do some non-work travel.
Abe and I met up in Guilin on Sunday, and have been having a fantastic time in Yangshuo this week. The landscape here is truly unbelievable — everywhere you turn is another spectacular vista. And after a solid day of solid rain, the weather’s been cooperating marvelously; we’ve enjoyed some magnificent sunrises, sunsets and views of the moon, all with the Li River Valley karst hills as a backdrop. It’s magical.
Lots more photos to come!
posted May 17, 2011 – 7:29 pm
At the end of March, I flew from Taipei to Boston, twelve time-zones away (but not actually the opposite side of the earth) — not exactly on the way, but very much a worthwhile trip. Along with the usual visits with old friends and getting my ice cream fix, I was there for my parents’ big ol’ birthday party.
Pictures from the party are up here and photos from Taipei are here. So far, really liking the D90!
posted April 26, 2011 – 7:27 pm
A month and a half later, and I’m in Taipei again. It’s been rainy here.
Leading up to the trip, I was happy to just be home for a six week stretch. I took full advantage of time in Seattle, digging in a bit more in the woodworking shop, having Matt out to visit (and provide some much-needed help with the robot arm), celebrating my birthday and pi day, and seeing some great local theatre. Having a bit of advanced notice of this trip and a solid chunk of time at home in advance has made travel much more bearable than say, the same time last year.
So for the past 8 days, I’ve been having fun wandering around Taipei in search of tools and components to build up a sous vide cooker for my friends here, and also playing with my new camera. The steak came out great, and so far, the photographs have, too (just posted the above street scene for now, more to come soon). It does make me a little nostalgic to retire the D70, but in the end it’s a tool more than anything else, and the D90 is a big step up in a few key ways.
Drew and I just go word that our backcountry application for the Enchantments went through — lots more people apply than the wilderness area can support, so they hold a lottery each year to grant permits — and I’m really looking forward to bringing the new camera up there. Last time we were in that neck of the woods, the scenery and weather graciously obliged and we got some great shots. Here’s hoping for the same this summer.
posted March 30, 2011 – 9:11 am
