Friday, November 19, 2010
Christmas Creep
No, it's not some fat perv that annoys you during Christmas. For those who don't now what Christmas creep is, it's the progressive creeping of Christmas (or any other holiday) decorations, songs, ads, etc. well before the month of December (or respective month). I thought living in Taiwan, I would be immune to this. Unfortunately, it's just as bad here, if not worse. Exiting the MRT mear my house back in October, I heard some Christmas songs blaring from one of the many shopping malls. Again a soli two months before Christmas, and even a month before Thanksgiving, the Taiwanese were already exposed to the creep. A near majority of the people in Taiwan are raised Buddhist, so the meaning of Christmas is lost to them. So to find such an an abundance of Christmas decorations for sale near where I live was quite surprising, and even a bit nostalgic. Christmas is not officially observed in Taiwan, but up until recently, the day was a holiday, coincidentally because the Taiwanese declaration was signed on that day back in the 1950's. Rest assured, even on Christmas day, it'll probably be warm enough for me to wear a short sleeved shirt and khaki shorts.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Privacy, please?
No one ever really wants to use a public bathroom, let alone go number 2 in one. But when you do use one, and inevitably, we all have to, you would expect to get some semblance of privacy. Well, that's the US way of thinking. You get almost none in Taiwan in the public restrooms, with cleaning ladies cleaning the urinal next to you when you're doing your business or mopping the floor and getting some splash on you. I figured that was just in public, but oh no, it's the same at companies as well. Regardless of what's going on, those cleaning ladies barge in and start cleaning away. It's like the US Postal service slogan, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" but for cleaning ladies. I half expected them to knock on the bathroom door to offer me an industrial roll of toilet paper. They do it to the girls room as well, but at least they are the same sex. Although I'm pretty sure that a male cleaner would get hit or slapped if he went in to the women's room to try and clean it if a girl was in there.
ACCESS DENIED
I had my first taste of dealing with the ASUS corporate structure today, and let me tell ya, it's all about CYA over here. I happened to have two separate issues at around the same time which set me back about two hours of doing work. The first issue I had was with my work badge, which was a temporary "Overseas Visitor" badge. These badges not only get you onto the campus, but what floors you have access to (ASUS HQ is 16 floors). Also on the card is an allowance for lunch and if you work OT, dinner. With an OV badge, I got 200ntd a day, which is about 50% more than what the locals get,but all dumped into the card's balance at once. My coworker likes starbucks a lot, so in addition to the breakfast/lunch/dinner meals, he would get some coffee from Starbucks, which start at about 100ntd. This put him over his monthly allowance a bit early, and we had to go through HR to add more money to it from my department's budget. But they figured since it happened to him, it would happen to me soon, and I should go ahead and top off my card. This is where the fun begins. Apparently, I'm classified as a contractor/freelancer, which means I don't need to be in the office and can technically do the job from wherever I have an Internet connection. Because of this, they change my badge access from OV to visitor, which means my floor access is restricted to 4 floors. Oh yeah, I can't use the super convenient rear entrance for employees, and have to go all the way around to the main entrance for visitors, an extra 5 minute walk. HR was so adamant on this because of my status and was unwilling to change, even though I've already been here a month and I'm doing the same job as my coworker, but he was a transfer from Singapore. Another coworker had been helping me out translating all the stuff I didn't understand, and he was annoyed as well. Apparently, after we got back to our floor, the HR department contacted our director and lodged a formal complaint at us and the "attitude" we showed towards them. The HR department, and to an extent, the entire corporate structure here, is so ass backwards where it takes a mountain of paperwork to get the smallest thing like adding a pittance of an amount to a card. Companies should enact a "common sense" rule besides the rule, "is this good for the company?".
That was run in number one. Number two deals with the MIS department, or better known in the states as the IT department. There's an entire floor dedicated to just IT, and it's crazy the amount of people they have to support, since there's about 3000 employees at HQ. Not long after lunch, all of my inter/intranet access was shut down. Not knowing what was going on, I checked with my coworker, and his access was still up, so I moved on to my translator friend for some assistance. I checked my Ethernet port at my cube, since I'm quite familiar in dealing with various levels of IT. he called them up, told them what was going on, then finally gave them my port number. They talked for a bit, hung up, then told me that my access was shut down to "unusual activity" with a google account. As it turns out, there were over 4600 requests to a google site that they were not familiar with, way more than any other person in the entire building, so they shut it down as a preventative measure. Turns out that 4600+ requests were from my google voice extension I was using in Chrome. I use it to communicate with a few friends here and there, but even when I'm not using it, it still autochecks every few minutes. I went up to the IT floor, they asked what I was using, and I showed them, and they just asked me to disable the extensions, which I was fine to do. After that, I was on my way and back up and working. Since they don't have gvoice phone numbers here in Taiwan, they saw no need to shut down access to those ports. I sure showed them :) I don't have the extension running anymore, but the access is still there, so feel free to send me a text if you're bored ;)
I had posted another version of this story from my iPhone, but for some reason I can't find this post, and another I wrote, so I'm re-publishing it. Most of it is was written that day, but the last little bit was finished just now, as I was mid thought when the MRT got to my stop. Maybe it'll show up again, who knows.
That was run in number one. Number two deals with the MIS department, or better known in the states as the IT department. There's an entire floor dedicated to just IT, and it's crazy the amount of people they have to support, since there's about 3000 employees at HQ. Not long after lunch, all of my inter/intranet access was shut down. Not knowing what was going on, I checked with my coworker, and his access was still up, so I moved on to my translator friend for some assistance. I checked my Ethernet port at my cube, since I'm quite familiar in dealing with various levels of IT. he called them up, told them what was going on, then finally gave them my port number. They talked for a bit, hung up, then told me that my access was shut down to "unusual activity" with a google account. As it turns out, there were over 4600 requests to a google site that they were not familiar with, way more than any other person in the entire building, so they shut it down as a preventative measure. Turns out that 4600+ requests were from my google voice extension I was using in Chrome. I use it to communicate with a few friends here and there, but even when I'm not using it, it still autochecks every few minutes. I went up to the IT floor, they asked what I was using, and I showed them, and they just asked me to disable the extensions, which I was fine to do. After that, I was on my way and back up and working. Since they don't have gvoice phone numbers here in Taiwan, they saw no need to shut down access to those ports. I sure showed them :) I don't have the extension running anymore, but the access is still there, so feel free to send me a text if you're bored ;)
I had posted another version of this story from my iPhone, but for some reason I can't find this post, and another I wrote, so I'm re-publishing it. Most of it is was written that day, but the last little bit was finished just now, as I was mid thought when the MRT got to my stop. Maybe it'll show up again, who knows.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Changing Seasons
Ah, fall is finally upon us here in Taiwan! That means I don't need to take a shower two times a day and its cold enough to where I don't need to turn on the AC. In many aspects, Taiwan winters don't differ from Austin, or Texas for that matter. One aspect that is different is the humidity. While cold, dry Canadian air blows southward, the cold air from China still has to cross over some ocean, so it picks up humidity and dumps it in Taiwan.
Hot or cold, humidity and I just don't mix. Yes, I won't be sweating very much, but when I do, it'll still be miserable and take forever for the sweat to dry off. At least now I can expand my wardrobe and dress in some long sleeves without excessively sweating. For now, the weather has been perfect. Highs in the mid 70's lows in the mid 60's. It's funny seeing Taiwanese adjust their clothing to the temperature change. I first noticed this when I visited Taiwan in the winter time for the first time back in the late 90's. Anytime the weather dropped below 70, the locals bundle up in their thickest winter coats, like the ones you go skiing in, all for 69 degree weather. I would often get exasperated stares when I wore khaki shorts and a polo because they assumed I was crazy and would freeze to death. I don't know how many times I had to tell my extended family that no, I was not cold. In fact, could they turn on the fan and point it in my direction? It's really easy to spot a foreigner in the winter time, just look for the ones wearing what normal people in the US wear at 75 degrees.
In other news, my friend Nicole paid me a visit this past weekend from Texas! Even though I just saw her not more than a month ago, it was still nice to play host and have some familiar Texan company. She flew in on a Friday afternoon from Hong Kong and left this past Monday for Beijing. I went to more touristy/site-seeing places in those two days than I have the entire time I've been here in Taiwan, and packed in a good amount of fun. Thanks for stopping by Nicole!
I didn't get my afternoon nap at work today, so I'm getting groggy as I write. Until next time friends!
Hot or cold, humidity and I just don't mix. Yes, I won't be sweating very much, but when I do, it'll still be miserable and take forever for the sweat to dry off. At least now I can expand my wardrobe and dress in some long sleeves without excessively sweating. For now, the weather has been perfect. Highs in the mid 70's lows in the mid 60's. It's funny seeing Taiwanese adjust their clothing to the temperature change. I first noticed this when I visited Taiwan in the winter time for the first time back in the late 90's. Anytime the weather dropped below 70, the locals bundle up in their thickest winter coats, like the ones you go skiing in, all for 69 degree weather. I would often get exasperated stares when I wore khaki shorts and a polo because they assumed I was crazy and would freeze to death. I don't know how many times I had to tell my extended family that no, I was not cold. In fact, could they turn on the fan and point it in my direction? It's really easy to spot a foreigner in the winter time, just look for the ones wearing what normal people in the US wear at 75 degrees.
In other news, my friend Nicole paid me a visit this past weekend from Texas! Even though I just saw her not more than a month ago, it was still nice to play host and have some familiar Texan company. She flew in on a Friday afternoon from Hong Kong and left this past Monday for Beijing. I went to more touristy/site-seeing places in those two days than I have the entire time I've been here in Taiwan, and packed in a good amount of fun. Thanks for stopping by Nicole!
I didn't get my afternoon nap at work today, so I'm getting groggy as I write. Until next time friends!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Writing as a profession
I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but most of that is read and self taught, not natural intelligence where someone picks it up and automatically gets it. In that same mold, I'm not terribly creative. I'm a creature of habit, going back to the same tried and true things over and over. Very rarely do I stray outside my comfort zone, and when I do, it's usually in the company of friends and family, so there's always a semblance of support nearby.
Where am I going with all this you ask? I think one cannot truly realize their maximum potential unless they are put into a situation where they are forced to survive, beit physically or fiscally. Someone I once met told me when you being able to afford to eat depends on you being able to sell something, don't just think you can, you'd better be damn sure you can lest you starve. Which brings me to my current state of mind. Having never done writing for a paycheck before, I have a newfound respect for journalists and bloggers alike. While I am fortunate that I'm writing on topics that interest me for the most part, there is the occasional bit of writer's block where I just don't have the creativity to come up with a coherent thought. Sometimes all that's needed is a refresh in scenery, instead of being chained to a desk with a computer. To the other writers out there, what other tricks do you have to overcome your occasional lapse in thought?
Where am I going with all this you ask? I think one cannot truly realize their maximum potential unless they are put into a situation where they are forced to survive, beit physically or fiscally. Someone I once met told me when you being able to afford to eat depends on you being able to sell something, don't just think you can, you'd better be damn sure you can lest you starve. Which brings me to my current state of mind. Having never done writing for a paycheck before, I have a newfound respect for journalists and bloggers alike. While I am fortunate that I'm writing on topics that interest me for the most part, there is the occasional bit of writer's block where I just don't have the creativity to come up with a coherent thought. Sometimes all that's needed is a refresh in scenery, instead of being chained to a desk with a computer. To the other writers out there, what other tricks do you have to overcome your occasional lapse in thought?
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Back to work, 1st retirement officially over!
Dearest friends, my humblest apologies for the hiatus in blogging. I have been negligent in my duties to keep you up to date on my life, even though I do speak with many of you online on a frequent basis. This will hopefully cease, and I will bore you more often with the mundane details of my thoughts in this crazy country.
In any case, much has changed in the almost two months since my last post. The last post was about how I interviewed with ASUS, and that they were thinking of offering a freelance position and my general thoughts on the situation. Well, as it turns out, their term for freelance is the US version of temp/contract to hire. Once that was cleared up, I accepted their contract offer and as of 10/15/2010, I rejoined the working class. I'll be a full time employee starting January 1st, 2011 if all goes well, but both my manager and I are confident that I'll do fine. I'm really liking the vote of confidence already, considering I've never really written on a professional level before. I believe it will be challenging, but at the same time quite fulfilling, as I love learning about new technologies and gadgets, and what better way to do that than being "forced" to learn about the product so I can write about it?
Most of my future posts will most likely be observations in working in a foreign company, as ASUS is headquarter in Taipei, and I'm right in the thick of it. So far, it's been busy learning about all the products I have to write about, but fortunately I already have a good base knowledge of the industry, and happen to know a good deal amount more than the Product Managers themselves. The only real thing I have to get adjusted to are the working hours. Officially, it's 9am-6pm, with about 1.5hrs for lunch, where you can also nap at your desk without being disturbed. However, most people work overtime, as is standard practice in Taiwan. Other than this past Friday when I had prior plans for a friend's going away dinner and left at 6:15pm, the earliest I had left was around 7:15pm, on average leaving around 8pm or so. Tack on the 45 minute commute I have to get home, and I get back around 9pm or so, relax for a bit, then head to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. Once my schedule gets settled down a little more, I'll look around for a tutor to continue my Chinese language studies.
On a sadder note, Texas football is having a bit of rough patch lately. I've had some fair natured ribbing from UCLA fans, as there's a large alumni base here for UCLA, USC, Cal, etc., as they are all west coast schools, but thank god I haven't met too many from the Big 12. Losing to Iowa State AND Baylor, at home? Come on guys...At this rate, I'm not going to bother watching the games live like I have been.
There's so much more to write, but I'll leave it here for now, as I need to get some semblance of sleep before I go to work tomorrow.
In any case, much has changed in the almost two months since my last post. The last post was about how I interviewed with ASUS, and that they were thinking of offering a freelance position and my general thoughts on the situation. Well, as it turns out, their term for freelance is the US version of temp/contract to hire. Once that was cleared up, I accepted their contract offer and as of 10/15/2010, I rejoined the working class. I'll be a full time employee starting January 1st, 2011 if all goes well, but both my manager and I are confident that I'll do fine. I'm really liking the vote of confidence already, considering I've never really written on a professional level before. I believe it will be challenging, but at the same time quite fulfilling, as I love learning about new technologies and gadgets, and what better way to do that than being "forced" to learn about the product so I can write about it?
Most of my future posts will most likely be observations in working in a foreign company, as ASUS is headquarter in Taipei, and I'm right in the thick of it. So far, it's been busy learning about all the products I have to write about, but fortunately I already have a good base knowledge of the industry, and happen to know a good deal amount more than the Product Managers themselves. The only real thing I have to get adjusted to are the working hours. Officially, it's 9am-6pm, with about 1.5hrs for lunch, where you can also nap at your desk without being disturbed. However, most people work overtime, as is standard practice in Taiwan. Other than this past Friday when I had prior plans for a friend's going away dinner and left at 6:15pm, the earliest I had left was around 7:15pm, on average leaving around 8pm or so. Tack on the 45 minute commute I have to get home, and I get back around 9pm or so, relax for a bit, then head to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. Once my schedule gets settled down a little more, I'll look around for a tutor to continue my Chinese language studies.
On a sadder note, Texas football is having a bit of rough patch lately. I've had some fair natured ribbing from UCLA fans, as there's a large alumni base here for UCLA, USC, Cal, etc., as they are all west coast schools, but thank god I haven't met too many from the Big 12. Losing to Iowa State AND Baylor, at home? Come on guys...At this rate, I'm not going to bother watching the games live like I have been.
There's so much more to write, but I'll leave it here for now, as I need to get some semblance of sleep before I go to work tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Wow, 2 months since my last post.
Hey folks, I can't believe it's already been two month's since my last post, so I need to catch everyone up on what's been going on.
I finished my 1st semester of Chinese class at Shida two weeks ago, but decided not to register for the upcoming semester, as I want to focus on getting a job and restarting my career. That lull in my resume will become a bigger question for future employers the longer I am without a job.
I interviewed with two companies, a small high tech company, and ASUS, a globally recognized company. I would have loved to work for ASUS, as that would have allowed me to possibly transfer back to the US with a job with ASUS in either California, or their office in Austin. However, like AMD, the interviewer at ASUS was concerned about my Chinese language ability, since I would have needed to communicate with their R&D/Engineering departments and the dialogue would have been outside my current level. She did however, offer me some freelance editing work for some of their Marketing copy, as well as pass on my resume to other departments who might not need such a high requirement for Mandarin. So, I'll most likely be working for the other company, not that that's a bad thing. Since it's a small company, I'll get to work with a lot of different departments and learn a lot of various roles, which could translate better down the line, whenever I do move back to the states/wherever.
As for the semester (quarter) of school, I learned a lot in those three months, and made some lasting friendships that I'll always remember. Hanging out with my classmates after class definitely made me feel like I was back in college, and helped stave off that feeling of isolation before class started. Some moved back to the states, another taking a class elsewhere, another is doing some traveling with his dad, and the rest, save me, continued on with their studies, albeit not in the same class or teacher. If I do find a job, I'll try to find a private tutor, or maybe do some language exchange with someone who knows pinyin, so I can continue my studies. I should pick it up much faster, since I'd be forced to use it all day interact with coworkers.
Other important items of note that's happened is my brother and sister-in-law came to Taiwan to visit my dad so we could celebrate his 60th birthday together. It was a fabulous Japanese style dinner, with my mom's side of the family on hand to see both my brother and I together for the first time in over five years. Along with his visit, he dropped off my new Taiwanese passport, so I dont have to leave every 60 days with my US passport, and can save some money.
Since my 60 days were coming up, I needed to make a trip somewhere, but I also already had a Chinese visa that I got when my original plan was to move to Shanghai to learn Mandarin. Luckily, my former roommate Vic came to the rescue! His work sent him to Shanghai to do some training, and put him up in the Holiday Inn. Now, you're probably thinking, "the Holiday Inn? Couldn't he have stayed somewhere nicer?" Well, turns out in Shanghai, and outside the US, Holiday Inn is quite nice, being a 4 star hotel. Vic, being the ever gracious friend, offered his room for me to stay in for the week I would be visiting. I got to explore Shanghai during the day, and met up for dinner after he got off work. We ate great gastronomical feasts for dinner, and enjoyed every minute of it. Pictures will be posted on Facebook, all taken by Victor the überphotographer.
My friends have asked what I thought of Shanghai, and I respond by saying that I loved the city, the architecture, and history, but couldn't stand the people. I'm not sure if it's all mainland Chinese, or just people from Shanghai, but they were some of the most rude, uncivilized people I've ever experienced. They're loud and obnoxious in person and on their mobile phones, push and shove to get in and out of places, when waiting a few extra seconds would allow for everyone not to rub up on each other, and have no respect for others when waiting in line. I was routinely cut in front when queuing for the subway, buying tickets to the World Expo, and even ordering food. Once I spoke up and confronted them about it, they would apologize and back off, but seriously, have some patience people! However, I'd say the thing that bothered me the most was the hygiene, or rather, lack thereof, of the people I encountered. They hack and cough, spit and excrete without care, wherever, whenever. The most disgusting thing I saw was a mother squat her son down and opening up a slit in her son's pants to allow him to poop. In the middle of the sidewalk. When I saw this, I made a face and scoffed at her a bit, which embarrassed her, but only enough to move her son from the middle of the sidewalk closer to the edge near the street, to continue the poop. Blech.
In retrospect, I'm definitely glad that I made the option to stay in Taiwan to learn, as I can barely understand the Shanghainese accent, and not sure I could have stood dealing with the locals. It's made me appreciate so much more what I've experienced here in Taiwan, from the new friendships to being able to see my dad on a regular basis. Ok, time for bed, since I might need to take off suddenly tomorrow afternoon.
Ciao ciao!
I finished my 1st semester of Chinese class at Shida two weeks ago, but decided not to register for the upcoming semester, as I want to focus on getting a job and restarting my career. That lull in my resume will become a bigger question for future employers the longer I am without a job.
I interviewed with two companies, a small high tech company, and ASUS, a globally recognized company. I would have loved to work for ASUS, as that would have allowed me to possibly transfer back to the US with a job with ASUS in either California, or their office in Austin. However, like AMD, the interviewer at ASUS was concerned about my Chinese language ability, since I would have needed to communicate with their R&D/Engineering departments and the dialogue would have been outside my current level. She did however, offer me some freelance editing work for some of their Marketing copy, as well as pass on my resume to other departments who might not need such a high requirement for Mandarin. So, I'll most likely be working for the other company, not that that's a bad thing. Since it's a small company, I'll get to work with a lot of different departments and learn a lot of various roles, which could translate better down the line, whenever I do move back to the states/wherever.
As for the semester (quarter) of school, I learned a lot in those three months, and made some lasting friendships that I'll always remember. Hanging out with my classmates after class definitely made me feel like I was back in college, and helped stave off that feeling of isolation before class started. Some moved back to the states, another taking a class elsewhere, another is doing some traveling with his dad, and the rest, save me, continued on with their studies, albeit not in the same class or teacher. If I do find a job, I'll try to find a private tutor, or maybe do some language exchange with someone who knows pinyin, so I can continue my studies. I should pick it up much faster, since I'd be forced to use it all day interact with coworkers.
Other important items of note that's happened is my brother and sister-in-law came to Taiwan to visit my dad so we could celebrate his 60th birthday together. It was a fabulous Japanese style dinner, with my mom's side of the family on hand to see both my brother and I together for the first time in over five years. Along with his visit, he dropped off my new Taiwanese passport, so I dont have to leave every 60 days with my US passport, and can save some money.
Since my 60 days were coming up, I needed to make a trip somewhere, but I also already had a Chinese visa that I got when my original plan was to move to Shanghai to learn Mandarin. Luckily, my former roommate Vic came to the rescue! His work sent him to Shanghai to do some training, and put him up in the Holiday Inn. Now, you're probably thinking, "the Holiday Inn? Couldn't he have stayed somewhere nicer?" Well, turns out in Shanghai, and outside the US, Holiday Inn is quite nice, being a 4 star hotel. Vic, being the ever gracious friend, offered his room for me to stay in for the week I would be visiting. I got to explore Shanghai during the day, and met up for dinner after he got off work. We ate great gastronomical feasts for dinner, and enjoyed every minute of it. Pictures will be posted on Facebook, all taken by Victor the überphotographer.
My friends have asked what I thought of Shanghai, and I respond by saying that I loved the city, the architecture, and history, but couldn't stand the people. I'm not sure if it's all mainland Chinese, or just people from Shanghai, but they were some of the most rude, uncivilized people I've ever experienced. They're loud and obnoxious in person and on their mobile phones, push and shove to get in and out of places, when waiting a few extra seconds would allow for everyone not to rub up on each other, and have no respect for others when waiting in line. I was routinely cut in front when queuing for the subway, buying tickets to the World Expo, and even ordering food. Once I spoke up and confronted them about it, they would apologize and back off, but seriously, have some patience people! However, I'd say the thing that bothered me the most was the hygiene, or rather, lack thereof, of the people I encountered. They hack and cough, spit and excrete without care, wherever, whenever. The most disgusting thing I saw was a mother squat her son down and opening up a slit in her son's pants to allow him to poop. In the middle of the sidewalk. When I saw this, I made a face and scoffed at her a bit, which embarrassed her, but only enough to move her son from the middle of the sidewalk closer to the edge near the street, to continue the poop. Blech.
In retrospect, I'm definitely glad that I made the option to stay in Taiwan to learn, as I can barely understand the Shanghainese accent, and not sure I could have stood dealing with the locals. It's made me appreciate so much more what I've experienced here in Taiwan, from the new friendships to being able to see my dad on a regular basis. Ok, time for bed, since I might need to take off suddenly tomorrow afternoon.
Ciao ciao!
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