Recent Books I've Read (Part II)

A few weeks ago I posted about some of the books I had read. Since I have plowed through a few more books it's time to give my unsolicited thoughts, again.

Managing the Dragon by Jack Perkowski

First, with books like this you do have to be aware about self-promotion and white-washing as the author is writing about his company. At several points, there are relatively obvious parts about how great his company is. That said, the book is very interesting--provided you are interested in business in China (if you are not interested then skip it). I have a lot of respect for the author an what he has been able to do and I think that I did manage to gain some insights while confirming other observations of mine.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey

As you can tell from my "book reviews," I do not read too many novels. But I have to say right now this is probably my new favorite novel. It helped that I haven't seen the movie as there were a lot of times I found myself laughing. The confined setting, character development, narration, and struggle all made for an absolutely fantastic read.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Like the first book in this review, you have to pay attention to white-washing and shameless self-promotion when you read books that are about the author's work. To be sure, there were absolutely times where the book became a volume about how Greg Mortenson is a saint (several people were quoted as saying he would win a Nobel Peace Prize). But the truth is, I agree. The guy is an absolute saint. The things he has been able to accomplish--much of the time with a shoestring budget are incredible. I think this is the side of American power that is far too often neglected (compare our military budget to the State Department's). If we really want to address world poverty, terrorism, or the multitude of other ills in the world then this is an example to follow. If you want to be inspired read this book.

Joker One by Donovan Campbell

The book was interesting and I have incredible respect for the author (nearly 7 months of daily combat in Ramadi), but there was just something missing for me. I felt like a lot of events were left untold. For example, he talks about one battle in which 10-12 Marines died (but none in his platoon) but only speaks of the events he personally saw. I felt the author needed to spend more time in this situation, and others, to give the reader a feel for the larger picture that was playing out (beyond his own vision). I am sure the daily grind blended together but the author could have used more examples of this. Personally, I would have been interested to know what happened to some of the major players when they returned from Iraq. In the end, the book is interesting and gives an intense picture of fighting, but left me with a lot of questions about the story.

Lucy Babe

Well my mom sent me an email a few days ago saying that my dog (whose back legs had been getting slightly worse for a while) was really having trouble. After a visit to the vet, it turned out that some of her vertebrae we mashing her spinal cord and paralyzing her back end at an increasingly fast pace. So she had to be put to sleep.

But that is what happens when you have a dog that is almost 14 1/2. The fact that she was so old is also the reason that I was really not surprised by how quickly she deteriorated (actually when we first got her I would have been shocked to hear that she would live this long--I thought she would have been nailed by a car long ago).

While I do have a lot of really good memories of my family's first and only dog, I must say that I really haven't seen much of my dog in the last 5 years when I have been at ND or in Taiwan. So yes, it is sad since I really loved that dog but it was also time for her to go. It will be strange next time I am home not to have her around or waiting to greet me at the door, that is when it will really sink in. I will miss my Lucy Babe.

Edit: I just got an email from my dad. I really did not expect him to be so shaken up about Lucy passing away--but it does make sense. The dog absolutely adored my dad (he gave her lots of food). But since my brother and sister left for college the dog had become unbelievably attached to my parents. Even though they would never admit it, they were very attached to her too since it kept them from being empty nesters. She became more their dog than the kids' dog. Hence, judging from my dad's email they have taken this pretty hard.

My Second Job

So I didn't post much of anything last week. There was a reason that did not involve me being lazy behind that one. I actually took some time off...for my other job. I am a volunteer for the local ND Club in charge of recruiting and outreach to local high schools.

I had to take the time off since ND sent an admissions director over here. That means I took a day and half off. In that time, we went to 5 high school visits during which I had to translate at 4 of the events. Then in the evening we had an admissions information session and dinner that I helped to arrange and was on hand to answer questions.

At the end of all of that I was a little worried I was losing m voice. Above is a picture of the ND alums who were on hand at the information session.

Toga! Toga! Toga!

So last weekend was a lot of fun. The problem was I got myself into a bad routine. What routine could be that bad given my penchant for sin?

Well, the fact that 2 nights in a row I got home at 6am, got to sleep around 7 and then woke up in the early evening. That sucked when Monday rolled around.

Friday night a friend of mine invited me over to hang out since he had just moved into a new place and I ended up there just chilling for a long time.

The next day was a going away party for a friend of mine. She rented a room and invited about 18 people over for a toga party. I was jacked up. I had not had a toga party since my sophomore year Alumni Wake.

The hotel we were at was huge and very nice(huge bathroom with a crazy hot tub, bed, and a living area). What was not normal was this hotel existed for one purpose: a place for people to have sex. There was a "hidden" vending machine of, shall we say, "implements of a sexual orientation" and a tv full of porn. Once we found that out we ended up singing karaoke, drinking, and smoking hookah. Overall I was having a rocking time and even sang some Chinese karaoke.

All went well until another friend of mine got trashed and puked all over the floor.

Oh yeah, ND beat Sparty. I cant stand those guys.

A Work Rant

I do realize need to update this thing more often but this week has been insanely busy and I am booked solid this weekend. So more updates will have to wait a little longer.

Having just said that, I need to rant. It is never fun to leave the office on Friday with a bad taste in your mouth. Our accounting department and GM have put off on payment of a big invoice for 2-3 weeks. They were overdue back then but we were waiting for the exchange rate to come down. Each time our agent would contact me or the company would send me a letter I would talk to the company accountants.

With second to last letter they sent I spoke with the accountants and they told me to tell the GM--who was busy at the time. Since one of the accountants was going in to talk to the GM anyway she told me she would talk to him. The answer was the same--wait for the exchange rate.

So today I get a final letter saying pay up today or we stop doing business with you. Well I take this directly to the GM. Apparently, the urgency of the situation was not adequately conveyed to him by accounting. When I sat down with him and conveyed that urgency the funds were transferred within an hour.

Of course, the accountants blamed me. After all, they said, I should have told the GM each time letters came or I got emails in addition to telling accounting. To be fair, there is without a doubt some truth to that and in the future I need to communicate that better to the GM since he gives approvals to pay invoices like this.

But let's get serious accounting department. Do you really mean to tell me that if I communicate this kind of thing to you (my job is to communicate with foreign companies) that you cannot handle the internal communication and I cannot trust you to convey this kind of thing to the GM? Part of my job is to act as the "bouncer" and to sort out what the GM and president need to know and what can be better dealt with at lower levels. If I clearly tell you this needs to be paid and go through and explain the letters to you then you still cannot communicate that? Could I have talked with the GM after each contact? Absolutely, but if I talked to him about each email or letter I get then it's a waste of his and my time. Accounting is responsible for paying invoices. I guess I was wrong to think that communicating with them about an urgent matter is enough to make them take the initiative to handle this sort of thing.

What pisses me off the most about this episode is that they are trying to pass this and future responsibility to me. They essentially said to me--well you have to tell the GM too since we cant always tell him. The unstated assumption on their part is since GM likes me and I am not scared of him (like they are) I should have this reponsibility. That's a load, if you can't tell him why do I bother talking to you at all? In my opinion, this part of my job should be to communicate information from foreign business/contacts to the people who need to know so that they can handle the given matter internally. At that point I believe I should hand off responsibility to them. It is a waste of my time if I have to chase every little invoice or problem down--but that is what accounting thinks I should do.

But the weekend is going to be awesome.

Purely Politics

It’s time for a purely political post. I haven’t done this for a while—and I have no idea how I was able to resist for so long with all the juicy political stories out there. So put on grab a drink and sit on the left of that chair, because here we go…

I was not entirely surprised to see Ted Kennedy pass away considering the cancer he was fighting. To me, Kennedy is undoubtedly one of the major Democratic figures of recent times. At first he was just riding the family wave (his story seems to me to be like the kid who inherits the family shoe shop despite having no interest in shoes but ends up doing well for himself in the end) and then he became known as a partier (and one who enjoyed a nice “joyride”). For better or worse, he was somehow able to mellow with age and overcome all that baggage to become an icon in his last years.

I guess the lesson here is that even if you drive off a bridge with a young lady in your car and leave her to die, divorce your wife, drink heavily, and go shirt chasing with a nephew when he is accused of rape—you too can become an iconic figure (although being from a famous family doesn’t hurt). Ok, so that was a low blow joke. In reality, he was very committed to his causes and did an incredible job to work for the betterment of Americans—especially the poor among us who have now lost one of their great defenders. He will be missed in the healthcare debate.

Now I turn from someone who was a bit of a mess early on to become an icon for the right reasons to someone who started out decently but has been in a slow motion crash for the last few months. Yes, that would be Sarah Palin. She seems to grow progressively more insane by the day (something about stopping digging when you are already in a hole comes to mind). As a Democrat, I am ecstatic that she is the leading face of the Republicans—I really do hope they run her for president since that will mean a Democratic majority for years to come. But as an American I am horrified. To my eyes, she embodies the visceral rejection of science and modernity that is rife in the Republican party and the right as a whole. This is in the exact moment in history when we need science and a rush to modernity to stay competitive in this global world.

Speaking of science I am a disciple of Thomas Friedman in that I absolutely agree we need a massive investment in clean fuels if we want to keep our standard of living and stay at the top of the world order. Yet, our politicians seem totally incapable of this—even a toothless cap and trade bill is being hung up. Even France has been able to offer up a carbon tax while we struggle over a watered-down cap and trade bill.

That is why this story caught my eye about solar panel manufacturing and implementation: (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/business/energy-environment/25solar.html?_r=1&hp as well as http://www.reuters.com/article/GlobalClimateandAlternativeEnergy09/idUSTRE58A0SO20090911). If China comes out ahead in producing and implementing clean technologies they will eat us for lunch (note: I do realize the article says the Chinese solar market is not there—yet. I will tell you unequivocally: it will be. They are starting massive solar projects including a solar farm that will cover over 25 square miles in the Gobi Desert. And given the massive market potential high exponentially increasing production capacity—one that tends to overproduce due to industry decentralization—the domestic Chinese market will be there. It is simply a matter of time).

Our politicians have not been honest with us. The rules of the game have changed. Unless we commit ourselves to become the most prepared to take advantage of globalization we will have a future that looks increasingly dim because other countries are rushing to prepare themselves.

Finally, the healthcare reform debate. I am biased since I have no coverage. But in that regard I am lucky to live in Taiwan because of the national health plan that provides cheap coverage.

Example, I had an outer ear infection recently. So I went to the doctor’s office close to my apartment one time and then went back for a follow up appointment. Both times I was able to see a doctor after less than 5min of waiting (walk in with no appointment), be examined in a professional manner by a nurse and doctor, given medicines, and sent on my way (and followed up with by the hospital). The total for two appointments and two rounds of medicine without national health plan coverage: about $32. If I had national health plan coverage the cost of the visit would be less than half of that amount.

I find it strange that the US spends more on healthcare than any other nation, but by most measures we are still less healthy than those countries with national health plans. I think a national health plan is a great idea and would lift the burden of health coverage off of employers and thereby make American products cheaper on the global market (by removing a significant portion of business operating costs associated with providing health coverage for employees—a cost not shared by most of our competitors).

Follow Up to the Post Below

Damn.

"You didn't you say Michigan sucks?"

Go Irish! Beat Michigan!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Since the Deaf Olympics is in town there are a lot of Eastern European teams (they seem to have come with the largest number of athletes). Thing is that means there are a lot more (attractive) blondes in town. In fact, as I came back from watching the steeplechase tonight I could not help but laugh and think about the ratio here.

In 15-16 months here I have seen a handful of attractive blondes. So that means within a week the number of attractive blondes in Taipei increased exponentially.

How to Cheer When They Can't Hear?

Taipei is hosting the Deaf Olympics right now (there are all sorts of events for deaf athletes from all over the world).

So I went to see the track meet yesterday and I got there to see the women's 10,000m race. But there was a problem, how do you cheer for someone who cannot hear you when they are in one of the most grueling races in track and the stadium is pretty empty?
Well the Swedish section behind me decided to do a slow clap (all clap in rhythm starting slowing then picking up pace as the athlete comes closer). Problem is that the effect of this depends on everyone doing it in sync. When you cannot hear (or 50% of the section cannot hear) this is a bit of a problem. So the claps would start off with a semblance of rhythm only to quickly descend into each person clapping with their own completely different rhythm.

In comparison, the Australians had it down pat. Then again all the Aussies have their "battle cry" (anywhere you go and find 1 or more Aussies at a sporting event they all know to shout "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi! Aussie! Oi! Aussie! Oi!" in unison). The Deaf Olympics was no exception.

One of the funniest things was a Taiwanese guy who was trying to lead cheers. But he couldn't speak English or use sign language. So his cheers consisted of him encouraging everyone to yell with him in Chinese then getting really annoyed when he realized he was the only one cheering...then trying again a few minutes later only to have the same result.

Are You Ready for Some (ND) Football?

It’s ND football season again! For me it is a little tough to catch games when they are at 3am on Sunday morning. But I am going to try and catch the opener against Nevada on the internet (via some web feeds) or just hope to God the top sports bar in town has a live feed and will let me stay there until 6 or 7am.

In many ways, this year feels the same as so many before. Each season the team is young with some experience back and the schedule doesn’t look too bad. There is hope in the air in South Bend. Then the season starts and at some point my hopes and dreams are crushed.

So how do we not crush my hopes and dreams this year? Well winning is a good way to start. But how does this notoriously underperforming team accomplish what has been a herculean task the last few years?

It is same on offense and defense: the line. The ND o-line has been beyond horrendous the last few years. Now they have a new position coach. We will see what happens, because to make any plays the quarterback has to be upright and not planted into the ground by an opposing d-lineman. The ND d-line is young and thin on numbers. If you are an opposing defense you run it down their throat since you do not wanted to face the secondary (the strength of the team). Teams will run at ND until the d-line shows it can stop the run.

Any analysis beyond that is extraneous.

Recent Books I've Read

I used to really like reading. Then I went to college and had to read for class. Now I am rediscovering my love of the written word.

The books I have read recently with a short blurb of my thoughts:

Descent into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid

This was one of the most difficult books I have ever read. It was extremely well written—but I still literally had to put it down and stop reading it countless times. The book was by the authority on Central Asia and it lays bare the head-up-one’s ass manner in which the invasion and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan was conducted. One particularly hard part was the discussion of other Central Asian nations that got a free pass under Bush so long as they “supported” US policy objectives (even if places like Uzbekistan tortured political opponents/perceived threats to death by boiling them alive—yes, you read that correctly).

The book did, however, make me remember how much I love not having Bush as president and how important things like closing Guantanamo and stopping the use of torture really for US foreign policy. If you can read this and honestly tell me Bush protected us from terror you either only read the dedication or your are just plain dumb.

This book should be required reading along with my two Bibles (The World is Flat and Hot, Flat and Crowded).

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I had never read this classic and I felt guilty about it. So I bought it here in Taipei and tore through it. By the end I was talking like the protagonist. That said, I thought the book was overrated. Yes, it was interesting study in alienation from society. But I was tired of the prose and the protagonist was getting on my nerves by the end. Thank God it was short.

House to House by David Bellavia

This book is a non-fictional account by a US Army sergeant of the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq. The prose is decently refined (thank you ghost-writer) and the accounts of the fighting are incredibly gripping stuff. The culmination of the book was hand to hand fighting that resulted when the author entered a house alone to face off against 6 insurgents who had prepared a death trap and were jacked up on epinephrine (pure adrenaline shot directly into the heart).

All in all, it is a pretty raw look at combat and the sacrifices made by those in uniform. Definitely worth it to read.

Even Buffet Isn’t Perfect by Vahan Janjigian

The only book I could find about Warren Buffet that was not puckering up for a big kiss. Yet, after reading the book will admit that I would bow to the “Oracle of Ohama.” The first few chapters presented a good analysis of Buffet’s investment approaches, changes over time to this approach, and what was applicable to the average investor. The book was written by one of the editors of Forbes and the forward was by Steve Forbes himself so it should not be a surprise that at the end the author decided to discuss of Buffet’s positions on taxes.

Honestly, people who read books about Buffet aren’t looking for discussions on his estate tax positions. If you are that desperate to fill up space just put in some more graphs. Other than the last two chapters, the book was pretty good.

Next on the docket is about business managment in China.

K-pop

I saw these posted on my friend Jaymin’s facebook page. They have me hooked on K-pop (Korean pop).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gZD26G38dc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Hihsm405E

Ok so I lie—just those two songs. When I watch the third one he posted I want to punch everyone in the same room as me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIRW_elc-rY

Weekend Update

So I came back from Thailand and as soon as I got to my house I had to order $600 worth of parts on MY credit card for my office. They will reimburse me—but damn, that is a decent chunk of change.

Immediately after that, I had to run to the hospital to get a light outer-ear infection taken care of. About an hour later, I came back with some drugs I had never heard of from a clinic full of people who could not speak English. Right after that I took my first shower of the day and hauled it out to meet two friends for dinner.

The next day was pretty epic. I woke up very late and headed straight to the Danshui subway stop north of Taipei to meet some people for a huge weekend concert on the beach. More accurately, I should say music festival (one hip-hop stage that sucked and sounded like any club, one trance stage, and one house stage—not sure of the difference between the last two).

The group I was there with got in about 6pm. The concert was held right on the beach. I had a great time—until it was over.
The music ended about 4:30-5am. Now we were really far from Taipei so catching a cab back to the city would have been prohibitively expensive. So I was cool to hang out with the group I was with—except for the one big, drunk, and very obnoxious dude. Problem was that everyone was gathered around him and ended up falling asleep in the sand.

Lightweights. I was still going strong (relatively speaking) and I was not ready to go to sleep at 5:30am in the sand while there was a light rain falling. So instead I just caught an expensive taxi to the nearest subway stop and took the subway home (note—by home I mean I fell asleep and missed my stop and had to get off at the end of the line and catch a cab with one of the least-friendly drivers I have ever met to get back home). I got back at 8:30am.

The next day I talked with one of the girls in the group. The first thing she asked was, “Were you angry last night? You just left in the morning without telling anyone.” My bad on that one. I was not angry by any means, but I was not in the mood to sleep in the sand and rain and wait until 7am for bus to take me on a 45 minute ride to the subway. Then there was also the fact that the people I was with were grad students without jobs so a cab was too expensive for them—oh the joys of my job.

Cambodia and Thailand Trip Update

Well I have been pretty bad about updating this thing in the last week. So this post will hopefully be a highlight reel.

“Not much can phase me in Cambodia anymore,” I say that each time I go there. But on this trip there were two things that made me pause. One was when the street in front of my hotel flooded in the morning. Then the second was when I was at this one little restaurant that I like despite the fact that allow beggars (but only those selling books—usually guide books or some knock offs of other popular books) into the outside seating area. I actually had a little fun with it since I had my Warren Buffet book so they would offer me a book and I would say no thanks and show them my book. So the line-up went like this: midget in a wheelchair with strange deformity—laughs and goes on her way, guy with two fake legs—nods and goes on his way, then little girl who was no more than 10—wont take “no” for an answer.

This little girl saw me show her my book and then in very good English says, “No good! Mine are so much better!” I kind of laughed and kept reading so she came over to my side and insisted—no—demanded that I buy a book. She had nothing good. So I bs’d for a little bit only to have her continually demand I buy a book. I eventually just told her no. She was not happy. She cocked her fist back like she was going to hit me. To me is was more funny than anything else (seriously a skinny ten year old, then again as a street kid she was probably a skilled ninja style fighter who could kill twice before I hit the ground). But after she did that a few more times the wait staff apparently thought enough was enough an ushered her outside to the street. She gave me the evil eye for a long time. I have never met such a persistent 10 year old, or one that threatened to hit me in public. Maybe I’ll buy a book next time.

Two waitresses at a cafe I frequent in Phnom Penh learned I was going to the airport the next day and offered to go along with me on the ride. I kicked myself afterward since I said yes and I was sure they saw me as a dollar bill with legs. Well I was pleasently surprised when they told me the next day they wanted to go since neither had ever been to an airport before. Oh yeah, at the airport I saw two US Marines in jungle camo--random.

Then I was in Thailand for two nights. But I was pretty overworked. The wifi in my hotel gave out so I had to run next door in the rain and pay $15 for a two hour wifi card at 10pm. That sucked. Much like Cambodia, my customer meetings went really well. I think I can chalk that up to my Jerry Garcia tie. My last night there I went out to party at Slim (a club) in the RCA district. I was pretty amused they had tv’s that had street basketball highlights on loop.