When Elevators Don't Work

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Today was a pretty cool day. It was my first day of training at my new job (though I've been here almost three full weeks now) and it went swimmingly. They even bought us a nice lunch at a five-star restaurant. I had a lobster cocktail and a gourmet Philly Cheesesteak with carmelized onions. Giggidy!!! Other than that, there's not really much to tell (or that I can tell you) other than I'm really excited to be a part of this company. I was before when I first started years ago...and it just kind of gradually went down a little bit (mostly because of the tediousness and lack of fulfillment & Passion on my part) but now it's reenergized again and I'm good to go. Also because of training, I'm a full day behind in my work...but I can probably catch that up tomorrow morning just before day two of training...and then repeat on Friday. Here's a news piece I found interesting...

Forbidden City 3D - Culture fans thousands of miles from Beijing can now visit its famous Forbidden City, through a three dimensional recreation of the vast palace that also allows them to dress up as an imperial eunuch and meet a courtesan. One of the jewels in China's cultural crown, the sprawling complex in the heart of the capital already gets tens of thousands of real-life visitors each day...but now online tourists can also watch the Qing dynasty emperor feast at dinner, train fighting crickets and feed them with blood-fattened mosquitoes, or practice archery with the help of a courtesan. At the virtual palace, unveiled on Friday, they can also dress up as part of the huge imperial entourage. "When you enter the Forbidden City you choose one of nine historical costumes, which is to give a sense of history but also keep a sense of decorum," said John Tolva, program manager at IBM who led the project, dubbed "Beyond Space and Time." "You can't run and you can't fly," he added, a restriction that aims to prevent other virtual visitors, whom you can see and interact with, being distracted. The program does not shy away from the racier sides of imperial history, shaped in part by the legions of eunuchs who controlled portions of court life and could rise to great power.


St. Augustine of Hippo (kid you not, real person) once said, "The World is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." Now, that guy lived in the 4th century AD...and he didn't have the effective modes of transportation that we do...but he has a point. I feel truly blessed to have been able to travel as much as I have in my life (really just the last decade) and I would highly recommend that you all go out and experience the world whenever the opportunity arises. That being said, I'd like to share with you one of the coolest days of my life, Memorial Day 2005. I was in Beijing and on that day, I got to experience standing in the center of Tiananmen Square, walking through the Forbidden City, and climbing the Great Wall of China all in one day. It was an incredible experience (though hard on the lungs) and until this technology shows up on your doorstep or you get the opportunity to go study abroad or take a vacation in the People's Republic of China for yourself, I'd like to offer you a little bit of the experience through some of my pictures from then. Don't worry, I'm not going to overload you from this trip, so if you don't care, feel free to skip the rest of this entry. For the cool kids who want a taste, enjoy...

Tiananmen Square

Mixture of a bad camera and eternal smog

Countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Only 1163 days to go...

Small map of the Forbidden City and it's 9,999 rooms

Luckily, we had a lady with a Panda to guide us

By us, I mean these guys. I'm the tall one.

Guess which one spoke Mandarin.

Chairman Mao & the Entrance to the Forbidden City

SNAPPING TURTLE!!!

This was an old-fashioned rock climbing wall

So was this...

Now to the Great Wall of China...

Up we go...

Just like in the paintings...

"Okay $teve, give your cheesiest grin!!!"

A few weeks later, I had lasik surgery...

Now for funny translation signs

We start off with some good advice in the subway

This one seems like an oxymoron to me...

I want a trash can that says this

Well, that'll do it for today. The elevators seem to be out at my new apartment...so I have 34 flights of stairs to walk to get to my bed tonight. No biggie. I've climbed the Great Wall, the Eifell Tower, and the hills of Salzburg, so I think that I can handle a fire exit with railing. Sigh...I do need to get into better shape though. Maybe I should always start using the stairs...and forget that gym membership. More on that later. Probably still go with the gym because they have hot tubs and a basketball court...but we'll see. Have a great night everybody!!!