It is going to under-go an extreme make-over sometime soon.

Here’s how it plays out. You don’t sell anything. You have all the new, cool gadgets you’re reviewing and you help people understand them and compare against their competitors. You don’t purchase anything…companies provide product to you in return for a review and discussion in the store (and online) … regardless of a positive or negative review. Maybe you even review ideas & introduce those to people looking for business connections (they will come to your store to do so).

How do you make $? Referrals. You get the consumer to the point of ready to buy…point them to the place to buy – providing a discount. You connect your stores to the web…to the blog. Maybe support plays a role too.

Just an idea, you’re probably already mulling it over. Hell, for $.21/share, how can you go wrong? You already do it better than they do.

Yao & crew hung out for a couple hours, didn’t seem like Yao had anything to drink at all. I walked by on the way to the bathroom to get a closer look … I look tiny in comparison. His feet, looked twice the size of mine (I have 15s). It was pretty cool to see him up-close and in-person.

Yao’s back in Beijing trying to recover from his foot surgery (going for some “traditional Chinese” medicine). Yao not playing in the Summer Olympics would be a huge disappointment to all of China.

Yao Ming seeks traditional Chinese… 

I changed my mind at about 6:30am this morning as my family & I entered the Beijing airport heading for Shanghai. Massive amount of people. Police everywhere. Video cameras filming at every corner. It seems there are doing some mock runs in the domestic terminal & preparing for the move to the new Beijing Capital Airport. That’s great, glad to see they are doing these things now. But, there is the problem of lines. So, I sit here waiting to board the plane to tell of you about it.

Wherever you go, whether you’re walking or driving, most people in this country have a problem waiting in lines. My guess it’s really due to the sheer number of people in this country and many of them have the mentality of, “I need to worry about myself and do what I need to do to get ahead.” … I could be wrong there, but I think it’s fairly accurate.

There’s nothing wrong with that when it comes to improving the quality of your life…go for it, push ahead, get yours. But, when you’re behind me, next to me or on top of me in a line as it so happens, do not push ahead. Wait in line. Try to be patient. I know it sucks, but get over it.

This is a huge problem in this country. The main reason for the massive traffic congestion is the problem of lines. Agreed, there are millions (almost 3 million) of cars on the roads of Beijing. But, if people would just wait in their line, move only when it’s clear & keep moving, traffic would be much better. If people would wait at the street lights until it’s their turn to cross, traffic would be much better.

In the airport, do not push your way through the lines. That just pisses everyone off. On the airplane, do not push your way through everyone to be the first one off the plane. Relax. If you want to stand up as soon as the wheels hit the tarmac, go for it. But, you’ll likely fall on your ass one of these times.

It really is a hard thing to deal with here. I try very hard not to get pissed off. Sometimes I do, throw and elbow here, drop a shoulder there. Got to have the ipod on to try to tone it all out, that keeps me sane.

Time to board, hope you enjoyed the complaining

says:
Suzy phones a cake shop

says:
orders a birthday cake

says:
she goes and picks it up

says:
its got a picture of a new born baby on the top of it in fruit / cream

says:
obviously the literal translation ‘BIRTH’day cake

says:
only in china

TRUE STORY!

Wasn’t a very exciting Paddy’s Day, but nice to spend time with the family in Beijing. Definitely not as crazy as the all the times in Buffalo … Savannah … Seattle … Beijing. I don’t think I ever spent a Paddy’s Day in Raleigh, but can’t remember.

Rather than showing you some pics of me this year, here’s one of one of my best friend’s baby – Sophie. As I said Alex, glad she looks like Kristine & not you!

Youtube.com is also blocked again – obviously because Tibet videos have been popping up.

It’s a mess there right now. A a couple colleagues of mine where in Beijing last week, they flew to Lhasa on Friday … when it was starting to get very hectic there. They were moved out immediately and ended up on a flight back to Beijing yesterday. They are heading back to the US today.

With zero progress as of yesterday, I decided to attempt to roll a new TP myself…but, I cannot get an IBM/Lenovo imaged TP in China … the software downloads were failing.

After I ripped support a new one, again, I finally got put in touch with someone who knew what they were doing at IBM support in China. Went over this morning & was fixed in 30 minutes.

Glad that nightmare is over – now I have to dig through the almost 600 emails I’ve received over the last 6 days & migrate blackberry to new Lenovo email.

It’s times like this when I wish I was in Raleigh.

68% of Americans suffer disconnection anxiety, should probably go outside

At amusement park in Bangalore – “Wonder-la”

Wonder-la … most people there didn’t wear shoes

DeWars – the  oldest Pub in Bangalore (opened in the 1930s)

Me driving an auto-rickshaw again

The “yard” at Irish Pub in Bangalore hotel