And you thought my friends had time on our hands...

I'm pretty sure this is in China, too, so not only is it a cool video, but it's kind of relevant.

Why I Have the Best Job Ever

Many people have been wondering what exactly it is that I do. Well, here is a picture that illustrates exactly what I do for a living:

I got paid to go indoor rock climbing on Thursday. Sure, I taught some English along the way. But whatever, right?

Okay, so I don't do that every day. I do other things, too. This weekend, I got paid to take salsa lessons. Twice. I also got paid to watch "Desperate Housewives" and to eat Japanese food.

A lot of times, what I do is awesome for totally different reasons. Last week, I got paid to lead the activity called "The Birds and the Bees", during which I guided conversation about sex, culture, and values. Along the way, I also taught my students absurd euphemisms and slang, and that wasn't even my idea: it was written into the material I was teaching. Phrases like "hot beef injection" and "riding the skin bus to tuna town". I'm totally, one hundred percent serious.

So, in conclusion, my job is better than yours. Probably.

Baseball and Healthcare

Today, the New York Times printed a brilliant op-ed piece, co-written by former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, Democratic Senator from the state of Massachusetts, John Kerry, and General Manager of the Oakland A's, Billy Beane.

IN the past decade, baseball has experienced a data-driven information revolution. Numbers-crunchers now routinely use statistics to put better teams on the field for less money. Our overpriced, underperforming health care system needs a similar revolution. ("How to take American Health Care from Worst to First")

Americans always pull this BS attitude about how great our healthcare system is, even though it's clearly broken. "Try going to Canada and waiting," they always say. Frankly, I'd rather wait a little bit for a procedure than go into crippling debt in order to pay for it. But maybe that's just me.

Anyway, this piece is about how medical systems could apply sabermetrics in order to dramatically reduce costs and improve efficiency, which explains why Beane is a co-writer in the article. Gingrich and Kerry provide some serious bipartisan gravitas, as two incredibly bright people that come from opposite sides of the political spectrum.

The Office (China)

Office work has never been so exciting as it's been these past few days. Monday was my first day of work, and I expected it to be mostly orientation stuff. Not really, though. Shortly after I got to the office, they held a company-wide meeting (something they do every day, and something I will comment on soon) and took the opportunity to introduce me to the office. After standing before everyone and just saying a little bit about myself, they informed me that I had to answer three questions from the crowd. Sure, why not?

The first question came from the HR girl, and was, "Do you remember the first time we spoke?" I took this literally and got it wrong. She meant the first time we had any communication, and I corrected myself. Then, someone called out "Do you think she's pretty?" I didn't know what to say. Looking around at the Westerners in the office, I joked, "Isn't this called a hostile working environment?" Then, I quickly answered, truthfully, mumbling "Very pretty, yes." Seizing the opportunity, someone else called out, "Do you have a girlfriend?" When I responded that, yes, I did have one, the follow-up came: "Are you going to get married?" Some of the girls giggled when I told them that she and I had no plans to do so, saying, "So she (the HR girl) still has a chance, huh?"

Powell and Palin

One of the nice things about being in a big city like Shanghai is that I still have more or less unobstructed access to American news, so that I can follow politics. As I was writing some emails an taking care of a few errands, Colin Powell made the right choice in finally backing Obama. That's been speculated for how many months now?

Not to be outdone, I across the following "best website ever", and am happy to share it with everyone:

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

Please, explore it and have fun. It's riotously funny.

Maps! (or "Where I Live")

The above is a map I've made using Google Earth and Macromedia Fireworks. The subject is the neighborhood in which I'll live beginning tomorrow, when I sign the lease on my new Shanghai apartment. As you can see, it's been conveniently color coded in order to introduce those unfamilar with it. The top of the map is more or less due north.

First, I've taken to coloring the streets. The light, whitened roads are the actual streets in the area. YanAn Rd, running east to west up top, is one of the most important roads in the city. It is multi-tiered, with the upper level comparable to a freeway. Running north to south on the left is DingXi Rd, a street I lived on during my trip last year. It's a busy street, full of shops and restaurants. On the bottom of the map, running east to west, is XinHua Rd. This is the street on which I worked last year, in the building that has been colored yellow. The street is full of old villas and other luxurious things, and is also one of the greenest streets in Shanghai.

Between YanAn Rd. and XinHua Rd. is FaHuaZhen Rd.. This is the street on which I'll technically be living. I say technically, because I'm actually living off an "alley". The green colored roads are more of these "allies". Essentially, they are sidestreets that are numbered like buildings and are then subnumbered. The pink building, the one I will be living in, is then still technically located on FaHuaZhen Lu.

The building I'll be living in is part of a small community of buildings, as is often the case with apartment complexes here. My apartment is on the third floor, which I appreciate since I don't really care for heights. I'm not scared of them and I don't get vertigo: I'm just easy with prolonged exposure to heights. This made living on the twenty-first floor last summer not so much fun. Luckily, because the apartment is a little away from the main streets (being on an alley- remember?) the low placement won't mean loud noise.

I'm pretty happy with the placement of the apartment. Ideally, I'd be situated further north on DingXi Rd., but those apartments tend to be more expensive. Further north is a major park and a key subway station that links three different subway lines. This apartment's location is still really nice, though. It's still close to the subway, and it's a short taxi ride away from most of the good nightclubs and bars. There is a bus that stops on YanAn Rd. which goes directly to my office.

Tomorrow, I begin the moving and decorating. I'm sure that will also mark the first time I've ever wished I had access to HGTV.

Odds

Over the last few days, I've been searching high and low for a place to live, walking block after block along side real estate agents. While walking, I tend to think of silly things to pass the time, such as how I would spend $1,000,000 if I won the lottery. Today, I was playing bookie.

Odds I end up smoking heavily within the year- 5:1
Odds I end up drinking heavily within the year- 3:1
Odds I get in trouble by assuming those around me don't speak English- 2:1
Odds I will regularly use motorcycle taxis- 3:2
Odds I will spend most of my free time preparing for "the movie game"- 4:1

Any other suggestions are welcome. I'm sure as time passes, there will be more.

Shanghai, baby!

The date finally came and went, and today I write with the wonderful news that I am alive and well in Shanghai, China. Yesterday, I got off the plane, instantly recognized that smell in the air, and immediately felt at ease. I cruised through customs, shrugged off the airline forgetting to bring my luggage, and hopped into a cab.

Last time around, I arrived in Shanghai during the cold wintry weather of February. I was overwhelmed and could barely bring myself to speak with the driver, even to tell him where I was going. Embarrassed, I handed him a piece of paper with the address and sat back. This time was different, though: I felt none of the nervousness of last time. Confidently, I told the driver where I was going. The weather was among the best I've ever seen here, blue sky and all.

The city itself looks great. In the year that has passed since I was last here, so much has already changed. Construction on incredibly skyscrapers has been completed, as have several new subways lines. In the neighborhood I used to live, and plan to live again, there is a brand new Best Buy. The big mall that anchors the neighborhood is now filled with stores, including an H&M. It's really remarkable.

Now that I've been here for a day, I'm starting to readjust to little things that you forget about, such as how crowded the city is. But overall, I don't expect that to be problematic.

Not much has happened so far. Mostly, I've been walking around, working on getting a cell phone, and sleeping, so there isn't much to report.

I'll be spending the afternoon looking around for apartments and working on getting a feel for the neighborhood again.

Gettysburg

This weekend, we headed down to Gettysburg to visit my sister. The visit itself was wonderful, but the real notable event was our trip to the Gettysburg National Military Park and its new visitor center. The visitor center- almost certainly a Congressional earmark, by the way- was truly incredible. It's a beautiful museum devoted to the Civil War's most famous, bloodiest battle. Having now been to Gettysburg several times, I've been able to see a great deal. I've taken early morning walks through the battlefields and come across buildings still riddled with bullet holes. These tend to be really powerful experiences. Of course, Gettysburg is also chock full of really corny, touristy stuff, mostly because Civil War nerds appear to be the nerdiest of all nerds.

This weekend, Gettysburg was really booming. One of the reasons is the opening of the fully restored Gettysburg Cyclorama featured at the visitor center. Back in the 19th Century, cycloramas were big attractions- like the IMAX of their era. A cyclorama is a massive, 360 degree painting, typically depicting a major historical occurance. The Gettysburg Cyclorama was originally painted in the 1880s, and replicated for other exhibitions around the country. Over time, most of these duplications were lost or destroyed. For some years, the Cyclorama was exhibited in Gettysburg, but the exhibit was closed recently to restore it and move it the visitor center. There is a cool feature showing the restoration here, and an article about it here.

Accompanying the Cyclorama was a short feature about the Battle of Gettysburg, narrated by Morgan Freeman (of course), and featuring the voices of Sam Watterson, Anthony Chisholm, and Marcia Gay Harden. It sounds absurd, but this short film about a 150 year old battle moved me to tears. The one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the incredible struggle our countrymen have undertaken to achieve the America we live in. Maybe it's because I'm preparing to move abroad, but whenever I think about that struggle, be it the battles fought by ordinary citizens every day for equality or the battles fought by extraordinary citizens on battlefields, I get choked up. That might explain the emotional intensity that I've experienced during this election, too.

Just as the Civil War marked a crossroads in America's history, where our forefathers faced fundemental questions about our nation's future, we face have again reached a crucial point in our nation's journey. Once again, there are weighty questions about our future. Luckily, we are not fighting a civil war. We are, however, fighting other important battles. Then, we dealt with questions of our country's union. Now, we deal with our place in the world. I was glad to have the Gettysburg experience one more time before heading abroad. Over the next month, we Americans have a lot to keep in mind. Over the next two years, remembering the struggle for America will surely help me appreciate everything about home that I'll miss.