Life in China | Dominik Mayer – Products, Asia, Productivity

In 2008 and 2009 I spent 1.5 years studying Chinese at Tongji University in Shanghai. This is my way to China, these are my experiences in Shanghai.

I arrive in China on page 15.

Significant Announcements?

Apple released Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard yesterday but didn’t announce any new products yet. Three weeks ago, AppleInsider had reported:

Apple Inc. has begun preparatory measures for significant announcements to take place during the last full week of October, AppleInsider has been told.

While sources have requested that we not go into detail regarding the specific measures being put into place, they say the announcements are likely to arrive any time between the 22nd and 27th of the month.

So let’s hope they’ll present something today.

Compelling Offers

Amazon offered me some great things today. Books about elastostatics and maths for engineers, another one about programming in C and a scientific calculator. Halleluja.

Dynamic Korea

I know it’s an ad, but it’s a good one. It really makes me want to go there.

Chinese Doctors

I finally got the two Chinese to talk Chinese instead of English. So it’s only a matter of hours until they figure out whether there are doctor’s offices in China or not.

Needles

Seems like my orthopedist is doing acupuncture as well. Two patients were running around with needles in their skin.

Asparagus

I think they should accept cooking asparagus as pre-study industrial practical. It contains chipping technology as well as heat treatment and it’s a very serious matter: If all the water accidentally boils away you get roast asparagus. ;-)

Birth Defects

Every 30 seconds, a baby with birth defects is born in China. Alarming. I think I better not have a child there.

Big Fish

A wonderful movie with a great, touching finale, so happy and so sad at the same time.

Toaster

Every year around my birthday I indulge in something. This year I wanted to get a Macbook. Despite all the rumors there hasn’t been an announcement yet. So I decided to get a toaster. Not the same class but better than nothing. And there has to be a new Macbook on the way.

There It Is

There are some improvements to the Macbook, but not the ones I had expected. Don’t know whether I’ll get one.

Foreign Fruits

A rather exotic birthday present were two fruits: A horned melon and a pitaya. They don’t only look unfamiliar, they also have an interesting taste.

Art

What is art? How can one define whether an artwork is good or bad and determine its worth?

Open Window

Allergy + sleep + open window in late autumn = Cold :(

Reserve Your Bed

43 Folders cites a resource on how to develop a better sleep hygiene. This point is interesting:

Get up if you have not fallen asleep in 15 minutes and practice a relaxing activity (e.g. handwork, reading a boring book) until you feel sleepy

But my absolute favorite is:

Reserve your bed for sleeping only

Video in Beta

Skype finally released version 2.0 beta for Linux including video support. Two years after it was first introduced in the Windows version and one year after Mac OS got it…