English with an American Corporate Accent - 005

This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

* That issue must have fallen through the cracks. [That issue must have been forgotten.]
* Don't drop the ball yet, we still hope to get that done in time. [Don't give up yet, we still have hope to get that done in time.]
* We really want to leverage the vendors; we don't want to hold the bag. [We really want to build on top of what the vendors have done; we don't want to do this all by ourselves.]
* Hopefully we won't have any fire drills next week. [Hopefully we won't have any last-minute work to do next week.]
* That's the old guard thinking; they have the NIH syndrome. [That's the traditional and outdated thinking; they have the not-invented-here syndrome. If not done here, they won't use it.]
* They'll bring in distinguished engineers to defend for them, then we'll have a pissing contest. [They'll bring in a group of elites to defend for them, then we'll have a contest of wills and egos.]
* Guys, knock yourself out! [Guys, go ahead and do it!]
* At some point, there will be top-down communication; the bottom-up communication only works to some extent. [At some point, there will be directives from the top; the bottom-up discussions and consensus building only works to some extent.]
* Let's separate the FUDD from reality. [Let's separate the rumors and wishes from the truth.] [FUDD: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, and Disinformation]
* Paul, we bit our tongues when John asked whether there were any more defects on the software. [Paul, we had to restrain ourselves from talking when John asked whether there were any more defects on the software.]
* There will be a few more stragglers calling in later. [There will be a few more late comers calling in later.]

English with an American Corporate Accent - 004

This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

*These are kind of swag dates, don't take them too literally. [These are estimated dates, don't take them too seriously.]
*That's an open-and-shut case. Don't worry about it. [That is an obvious and easy case. Don't worry about it.]
*Making it a macro or not is orthogonal to whether or not it should be in the cpu.h header file. [Making it a macro or not is independent and irrelevant to whether or not it should be in the cpu.h header file.]
*That operation is a real renegade operation. They must have some upper management support for that to exist. [That operation is a real rebellious operation. They must have some upper management support for it.]
*I believe we can get over this hiccup tonight. [I believe we can get over this temporary difficulty tonight.]
*Think opportunities and think upsides on all of it! [Think positive!]
*I ask all of you to look at that glass half-full instead of half-empty. [I ask all of you to look at the issue from a positive angle.]
*That is job one for us, no question about it. [That is the number one priority for us, no question about it.]
*When we are at an inflection point, we'll make the change and run with it. [When we are at a turning point, we'll make the change and go in the new direction.]
*You are wasting your time, don't preach to the choir. [You are wasting your time, don't try to convince the people who are already on your side.]
*Now that the cat is out of the bag on the ARM port, it's time to see what hardware platforms we can try running on. [Now that the ARM port is public knowledge, it's time to see what hardware platforms we can try running on.]

Community Service - A Common Way of Life in America

I was invited by the seminary director at the Catholic Theology and Philosophy School of the Beijing Diocese to give a talk to the young seminarians back in May. Attached is what I used.

By the way, the school is quite close to Tsinghua University, but is in an amazingly run-down area. The road was paved only in the last year or so. Now it is not muddy during the rainy season.














This presentation provides a good glimpse of my non-professional community service. I focused on the Tijuana housebuilding project that I helped to get started almost 10 years ago at the San Jose Chinese Catholic Community Watermark Youth Group. I personally took part in the project for 5 years. That was a life-changing experience for me and my boys. I was born Catholic and somewhat was destined to travel on this road :-). There are many ways to reach this point of my life, but I have no regrets coming to this point in this particular rendition ;_)

You might find it puzzling that I used the acronym BLP in the presentation material. To stay on a par with the many USCCB board members who belong to different Catholic religious orders and who always have a few letters after their names, I was given an honorary title BLP. My lay board member friend coined the term BLP (basic lay person) for us lay people in the Board.

Who is a Beijing native?

A few days ago, I overheard a heated exchange between two women at the fruit stand near my apartment complex. One sore point was "Who is a Beijing native?"

Yes, who is a Beijing native? And why is this important at all?

Many Beijing natives work for the city in various
service segments such as transportation, park systems, and government administration.

I took a photo with anonymity in mind on my bus ride to North Church last Sunday. This woman apparently is a Beijing native with an unmistakable Beijing accent. I took my photo with the intention of writing about it, because she reminded me of her admirable role as "moral code enforcer". She yelled out to youngsters to yield their seats to the seniors or other needy people, such as parents with small children. (By the way, I don't see any reason to give seats to school-aged kids, say 7-10 years old, when they can manage themselves well.)
I do see good reasons to let parents have the seats while they hold their little ones on their laps. Incidentally, this woman is called generically a "service person," not a bus conductor. Waiters and waitresses have similar job titles in China. This is different than in other countries.

There are inherent job risks in being a service person on the bus. Two years ago, a female service person was choked to death by a crazy passenger who refused to follow orders and got angry at the woman on one of my bus routes 690 (then 726). That made me wonder how Beijing passengers could watch and let that happen. The collective lack of moral courage to help must have been something many people remembered for a long time after the incident.

Beijing natives with proper household registration paper enjoy preferential treatment in certain job applications and social welfare benefits.
There are even quotas for incoming freshman students in Beijing Universities. There currently are talks about lowering those quotas for Beijing natives and eliminating them eventually. The latter move would relieve the tight competition to get into some local schools, starting from the elementary grades. It is disheartening to see human energy spent over getting into "desired" schools by parents and children alike.

The coupling of benefits and advantages associated with the household registration system presents a serious obstacle to social harmony and might prevent further progress for China. The overhead of keeping the status quo can be better spent improving other social conditions. However, maintaining the status quo does give people some sense of security. That situation should be viewed as a social program and as a way to offer safety net to the needy in the city. Without those benefits, all-out free competition would drive those natives to the streets in no time. This should not be the only reason not to change. Things need to change, but changes will come with certain orderly controls as it always happens in China. As this progress occurs, there will be always smart and/or sneaky groups that are a few steps ahead of the regulations and rules. Many of the filthy rich in China are in this category.

The well-to-do and emerging middle classes in Beijing are mostly outsiders. It is hard to define outsiders versus natives. My definition is that who attended primary and middle schools in Beijing are natives. With this definition, fewer than 20% of those in my workplace are natives.

Beijing has been a capital city for many centuries. Wholesale replacement of top leadership and elite classes takes place every few years as political scene changes. These days, the sources of changes are not limited to the political shift. The newly created wealth and job opportunities attracted many outsiders whom the city needs to sustain the economical growth. The newly wealthy, well-educated elites are moving in and are becoming natives in a couple of generations. Their grandchildren will brag about their Beijing identifies. Yet, the new, bright, and diligent will continue to come to Beijing to replace them, if Beijing wants to continue to be viable.

English with an American Corporate Accent - 003

This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

* These are low-hanging fruits. Let's do them first. [These are something easy to do and to get credit for. Let's do them first.]
* This might not be so easy. I cross my fingers. [This might not be so easy. I am hoping for the best.]
* Give me a jingle, please, when you get this message. [Give me a call, please, when you get this message.]
* Let's cross that bridge when we get to it. [Let's do what we have to do when we get to that point. Don't worry about it too much now.]
* Eventually, almost everyone accepted that no silver bullet would ever be found. [Eventually, almost everyone accepted the fact that no magic shortcuts or simple solutions would ever be found.]
* He has put a monkey wrench into the schedule by adding another surprise work item to it. [He has created complications to the schedule by adding another surprise work item to it. ]
* It's a tar baby - we would be stuck with working on it until the end of this product life cycle. [It is a complicated mess - we would be stuck with working on it until the end of this product life cycle.]
* With that proposal rejected, he was back to the drawing board. [With that proposal rejected, he was back to the starting point again.]
* That is not a one-size-fits-all kind of solution. [That is not a solution for all possible scenarios.]
* That project was on the radar screen to get open sourced. [That project was on in the process to get open sourced.]

Simple and Manageable Exercises for Aging Parents

My mom is recovering from a fall 6 weeks ago. She was in hospital for 2 weeks and back to my apartment until now. We could not apply the typical exercise patterns to the aging parents and yet they need physical exercises to regain strength to be back to complete independent living. Soon or later, they'll need some help and assistance, but put that off as long as you can since it is good for them and good for us children.

I was forced to innovate and here are some good five easy and manageable exercises to strengthen the muscle tone and keep in shape. It works on different part of muscles.





Lift up your legs and stretch them onto the walker.













Move the walker up and down gently to get the arms and wrists in shape.












Bend at the waist so that your head touches the walker. Get the torso and waist to work.

















Hold onto the walker as you stand up from the chair and then sit back down smoothly.











This last exercise is the most common. Walk around to get into shape and to build up your strength in general.

English with an American Corporate Accent - 002

I was in the California Bay Area for a business meeting this past November. It was a busy two weeks as I had to meet many people with my new job and different responsibilities. I picked up some business jargon to share with those who might be interested. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

* Hey, when the rubber meets the road, she'll have nothing to say anymore. [Hey, when reality kicks in, she'll have nothing to say anymore.]
* We are also making inroads into the European markets in the last quarter. [We are also making progress into the European markets in the last quarter.]
* Trying to get project details from Brian is like pulling his teeth. [It is very difficult to get project details from Brian.]
* You have been really lucky to get the code review done recently. Knock on wood! [I am counting on my luck, don't break it...]
* I'll do that for sure. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a thousand needles in my eye... [promising to the extent of almost swearing...]
* Finally, our big server order prayers are answered. [ Finally, our big server order wishes are answered.]
* You really don't want to get into that pissing contest with them. [You really don't want to get into meaningless arguments with them.]
* If the devil is in the details, outline the devil. [If we have to address the real issue, let's outline that.]
* Hey, you better all pony up and finish that project. [Hey, you better all get serious and finish that project.]
* Paul, why don't you table that item for the next meeting? [Paul, why don't you record and discuss that item in the next meeting?]