Fun at work

I commute to work every day in a shuttle bus provided by Intel. Last week we had an evacuation drill. It was lots of fun. [That's my head sticking out the top of the bus window.]

Moving on

John just had a BIG birthday. We decided it's time to start the next phase of our adventure. We are quitting the tech world. The plan is to work in Shanghai until the end of the year. After the new year, we will head south to travel in southern China and northern SE Asia. When it gets too hot to run around, we will retreat to our house in Raleigh. In the fall we will come out to travel again for 6-9 months. We have no idea of how long and how much traveling it will take to get rid of this travel bug ...

Another one bites the dust

My team decided to go bowling for our Q1 team event. And thus the streak that started so quietly on September 21, 1957 came to an end on March 9, 2007 with my second visit to the Shanghai International Bowling Resort; but this time I could not opt out and so bowled for the first time in my life. I think I bowled an 83 and an 87. It's over. My epitaph can no longer be "He never bowled."

Here's a blurry photo of the sad event.


I also got in about 30 minutes of badminton doubles which I greatly enjoyed.

A Narrow Escape

Last week I attended an Intel offsite at the Shanghai International Bowling Resort. This offsite was a combination of aligning goals for 2007 and team building. As offsites go it was actually pretty good and we got a lot of "goaling" accomplished from 8:30 to 3:30.

Then it was time for team building. As some of you know, I have managed to avoid bowling for my entire life up to this point. I want to have "He never bowled" inscribed on my tombstone. So this was going to be tricky.

My team has gotten used to fact that I'm a vegetarian. That wacky American. But no bowling? Luckily the Shanghai International Bowling Resort has a badminton court next to the 5-lane alley and I was able to convince a co-worker to bring his spare battledore (that's the official translation of badminton racket into English from Chinese) and I spent a whole hour playing badminton with the guys and gals I work with.

The streak continues!

Boy was my arm sore the next day.

Do vegans play badminton?

We go to a wedding

A few weeks ago we went to my team member's wedding. Keshuang and CaiFeng had actually been married in a civil ceremony some months before. The "wedding" we attended was the public ceremony and banquet for friends, family, and coworkers.

We took a taxi with a coworker and his wife to QingPu, a suburb of Shanghai and the bride's home town. The banquet was at the QingPu Hotel which appeared to be hosting several weddings that day. We signed in and handed over our red packet filled with cash -- the only appropriate gift.

The wedding started 30 minutes late at 11:30. The bride and groom marched down the "aisle" amid confetti and fireworks (see photo below). The best man, father of the bride, and their former university professor said a few words, rings were exchanged with the usual western vows, the bride and groom bowed to their parents, a "LOVE" candelabra was light - sorry I do not have a photo of that one, you have to imagine it -- and then we ate.

During eating, the bride and groom came around to each table for a toast. Later, the bride drew names from a basket and a few lucky guests received gifts. After playing some friendly, traditional jokes on the bride and groom, the wedding was over.

Working at Intel

What's it like working at Intel in China?

I commute to work on company provided bus. The ride to work lasts about 23 minutes. The ride home a little longer. I am a quite popular seatmate as one gets a free English lesson by engaging in small talk with me. ;-) I try to get a bit of a free Chinese lesson in return.

Our building has a small car parking lot since most of us commute by bus. There is also a bicycle parking lot.

There a cafeteria on the first floor. It serves breakfast and lunch. Breakfast costs about 50 cents US. Lunch is about $1 US. There is a small convenience store and Starbucks-like coffee bar in the cafeteria. A latte is $1.50 US.

I sit near a west facing window on the 2nd floor in a 2 meter by 2 meter cube which is similar to any cube in the US. All Intel employees have a cube, even the CEO. My "desktop" PC is an IBM laptop (T42) running Windows XP. We use Outlook for email. [We also use Sharepoint and shared network drives.]

We have a break area on each floor (referred to as "the pantry") with a water cooler (hot and cold), several small tables with chairs, microwave, fridge, and coffee machine. Free coffee, crackers, 4 varieties of tea bags, Sprite, Orange drink, and Coca-Cola (with straw) are also available.

With the cheap local labor supply, the bathrooms are in a state of constant cleaning, complete with the yellow plastic "CAUTION WHEN WET" signs in English and Chinese.

The meetings I attend are usually 100% in English, even if I'm the only native English speaker present. Occasionally, the discussion switches to Chinese for a few minutes while some point is hashed out, but then returns to English with a brief summary provided to me.

[I will write more later about S/W engineering in China and how it is similar and different from S/W engineering in the US]