Slim's space

It has been a long weekend of packing and researching back-up plans as unseasonably warm weather has caused a massive spring flood situation for all northwest rivers.  I called our shuttle people (Ruby and Wayne) on Friday and was told that the John Day River was closed to boaters which put a damper on most of the weekend trying to figure out alternative options. 

This morning I called the BLM and confirmed that that river was ok to run, even at current high levels of 14K.  Forecast suggest that levels will be down around 12K by the time we are on the river Friday morning.

With a 9 hour lay over in Tokyo... I've had time to workout, take a shower, a 2 hour nap, eat a fine Japanese lunch in the NWA lounge (no... not the band.... the airline), and now I can catch up on some blogging.

We had a great time visiting with the Shanghai team early in the trip, which now seems like a month ago having been in so many cities it's to the point where it takes a minute to remember where you currently are.

Anyhow... on to some pics from the Shanghai trip.

On our first day, JoAnne and I arrived at 9ish... and stood in the morning queue for the 6 escalators that operate in the building.

Here is a view of the MSBNC.com Shangahi office.  At 10ish... the Shanghai team gave us a presentation of demos, projects, status, etc.  It's an impressive amount of work the Shanghai team does.  They have become highly efficient with our processes and now have a good deal of understanding with our technology.  They have such a great and energetic attitude... I look forward to seeing what this team delivers in the coming year.

The next day... the team took us to a traditional Chinese lunch near our first MSNBC.com Shanghai office that we moved out of last year.  This Sony cellphone-mouse-thingy was here last time... hopefully not the same person.  :-)  JoAnne jumps in for a quick pose.

After lunch... group photo.

After work one afternoon, we headed down via subway to the copy market.  Many of the shops were already closed for the evening by the time we got there.  But the shopping consultants (Jennifer and Cindy), did not pass up the coveted and favorite famous restaurant of their generation... look close and the colors.... yep... KFC.  However, KFC is somewhat easier to swallow down than the other options of traditional Chinese food... (check out the duck heads in the picture furthest to the right.

For lunch during the week, Yan, JoAnne and I ate at Yan and Kari's favorite row of restaurants.  Picture on the left was for the benefit of Amy.. picture on the right was from a great little restaurant we ate at twice called the Blue Frog.

Later in the week, the team invited us to their New Year party at the Westin.  It was a great little buffet... that ended with a competitive version of white elephant gift exchange.

Kevin obviously up to no good... probably trying to rig the game... but Cindy is on to him.

Demonic Cindy obsessed with getting a good stuffed animal gift.... (I'll blog later on the obsession with stuffed animals in China... everyone has them... they are more valuable than gold)

First game... whomever draws the 'right' card gets put on the spot.... 

Victim - Vinnie!  The game - he has to count how many cards are in the stack while people get to ask him questions.  Vinnie doesn't make in time... he loses... consequence is chugging a glass of water.

But there is a prize for his efforts....

People opening gifts... in order of cards.... but you get to steal other people's gifts if you like them....

Jeremie hopes that someone will steal his gift.....   not a chance Jeremie...

Despite his evil efforts... Kevin winds up with a piece of rubber bread.... which he goes home with.

This was my first look at the completed MSNBC.com office in Hanoi, Vietnam.  They did a great job with the space, lots of windows, roomy, and clean.  They even have a small 'gym' in the  corner.

The MSNBC.com Hanoi Team invited us to their weekly 'Happy Hour' where they eat fruit and have juice.  On this special occasion they brought in some sort of champagne and cake.

I was nominated to open the champagne... my goal was to not damage the new ceiling tile.  Easy does it...

Success!

The team asked Anna if the could do some 'small' paper crackers.  We'd call this something closer to mortar, muzzle-loading indirect fire weapons that can lodge paper confetti in the ceiling tile.

BOOM!  It was seriously loud.

Confetti went everywhere.... and then tracked through the rest of the building throughout the day... I won't be surprised to still be finding this stuff during next visit.

A gift from the Hanoi team... and incriminating evidence stuck to the wall and glass behind me.

Confetti in Vivian's and Kim's hair!

A demonstration of the 'gym'.

After a day of meeting with the separate virtual Hanoi teams (Tactical, Site Dev, Video and Sustained Engineering) we ended the day with a nice buffet dinner.  Fun was had by all... the Vietnamese are very impressive eaters... particularly for their size.

The Hanoi team showed us a slide show of one of their morale events to the Perfume Pagoda.  Hai (at the end of the table) was in nearly every photo... so it seemed appropriate to end this blog entry with an enlarged photo to carry on Hai's future as a model.

We headed out to the country side to look at a residence that Lan had read about and was also recommended to her by a co-worker.  Seeing planes coming in for a landing over Vietnam farming lands was a bit surreal looking,.

So nice that Yamaha and Honda have such compassion for the Vietnamese.

Suburbia Vietnam... you can see corn stalks on the side of the road ready for pick-up and recycling.

The driver stopped to ask for direction at one point... this is a typical looking dog.  If you're having bad luck, you can eat dog and turn your luck around.  Also, during the Tet celebration (Vietnam New Year), it is tradition to eat dog.  This guy should be packing his bags soon....

About 1/4 shy of our destination, a bridge had been washed out.  You do NOT want to step in that water.

Along the road, we ran into some locals cutting down trees by handsaw and rope.  They were very friendly, and had all of the trees you see in this picture cut down and cleared by the time we got back.

Our destination... an artist's home who opens it up for the public to see.  You just have to call and someone lets you in... free of charge.

I was more fascinated with all of the cool plants and flowers you don't see at home.

One of my favorite photos of the day.

I tried to get the entire goldfish but he was being shy... I still like the way it turned out.

Cliche photography... but I like the effect.

Headed back to the car we ran into a family.  Oldest brother making sure everyone else is accounted for and safe.

Believe it or not... this was not the strangest thing you'll find strapped to mopeds.  Nor is a family of four with a baby... that's pretty common.  Ana say a fridge once.  Live pigs is an interesting site... they look like it's no big deal... like they go for a ride every day.  The strangest thing I saw was a tall pole with a bunch of gold fish bags tied to branches off the pole.  You got to wonder what goes through a goldfish's brain when he is flying down the road...

Ended the evening at BobbyChinn... a must visit restaurant in Vietnam.

Part of the very unusual art selection in BobbyChinn.

After a busy work week doing time-and-a-half (an almost full day in Shanghai and then online with Redmond into early hours of the morning), it was nice to leave Shanghai Saturday morning for the trip south to warm and friendly Vietnam.  We arrived in the evening, cleaned-up, caught dinner with Anna from Harvey Nash and then hit the sack.  The Sunset Bar at the hotel is a bar out of the movies....   we sat in near 80 degree evening weather and watched the water.  I awoke to the sound of roosters... it must have been 4:30AM and listened with part amusement and part annoyance until my wake-up call at 6AM told me it was time to go to the gym.  Today is Sunday which is our first down-day of the trip.  Anna and Lan are taking us on a tour through the country side.

This year we are staying at the new Intercontinental Hotel that's only been open 1 month.  The Hilton Hanoi rates have increased since last year, and they were giving good rates here to get new clients.  The Intercontinental is beautiful.  It isn't actually complete... the 'gym' was two treadmills and some huge weights in an emptied guest room.  With 3 people in there... it gets a bit hot.

The sunset view from my room.  Across the water is a local community... they were all out talking and laughing late into the evening... past the time I fell asleep at 11PM.

From out seats in the Sunset Bar, looking out towards the water.  Those little love seats are for two people.

Trash floating in the water.... looking down from my balcony.  The carp love coming up and grabbing the trash... hopefully I can catch a picture of one of them.

In the morning I watched fisherman going after the huge carp that feed on the trash floating in the water... their splashes can be heard easily from my window / balcony.

Have been spending time with the team over the past few days.  Monday started off with a great set of demos and presentations about the work being done in Shanghai.  I'm impressed with how far this team has come. 

Above: left photo is the morning queue to get into the elevators.  Right is the current MSNBC.com Shanghai office.

Lunch at the Blue Frog... very nice western restaurant / pub.

Spent some time looking at new buildings as we are growing out of our current space.

The first place we looked was at the new Microsoft campus where vendor BeyondSoft has some space that looks very attractive.

Very cool building and landscape design.  Feels like a James Bond movie.

The new space currently set aside for MSNBC.com within BeyondSoft.

Small cafeteria and lounge room within the BeyondSoft area.

The light within the window you see in this building is the BeyondSoft area.  Also shown above is the common cafeteria that all buildings, including Microsoft, would use for lunch.

Today we took the team to lunch at a place called MorningShanghai for some traditional Chinese food.. near our first office.

The herbal "No Jet Lag" remedy has done wonders.  Hit the sack at about 3AM last night after catching up on email and a nice visit to Dragon Fly. :-)  Up at about 8AM and then off to the gym for an aggressive workout on weights and running.

After a quick continental breakfast and some additional email catch-up... JoAnne and I hit the town.  Wanting to try something new, I did a search on Google for "must see" places in Shanghai and found a page dedicated to Shanghai's 50 hottest spots.  First stop was the Tom Lee Music shop...

I was hoping to find some locally made acoustic instruments... pretty much everything in the shop was made in either Mexico and USA... so strike-out.  Second stop was Paddy Field to look at what kind of custom furniture you can have built... but we couldn't find the store.... strike two.  The last was the Henry’s studio & antiques shop which was definitely a hit... the place was huge... full of antiques and new stuff built by the Henry.

The weather was cool today... quite nice relative to the blistering muggy heat you find in June / July.  The air pollution is already taking its toll on my sinus and throat. 

No joke.. this is the intensity of the smog outside my hotel window.  It's as bad as it looks... no camera issues... that's smog.

This is my first visit to the Hilton Shanghai... very nice... comparable in price to the Regal East I've been to a few times.  I think Hilton will be my new base camp.  Off to an early dinner....