I’ve been doing a bunch of interviews recently and had a good friend go through a set of interviews in the Valley which got me thinking if I was actually a candidate, what would I be asking to my interviewer. Some of the obvious questions came to mind would have been “where will this job be in X years” or “what are the companies long term grown plans”, etc, etc. But none of them really go to the heart of what I would want to know about a potential employer: Does your VP wear a suit? Sounds like a bizarre question, but it speaks directly to the age, vitality and culture of a company. Yes? I’m probably not interested in working there. You’d have to throw a whole lot of money at me to make it appealing to work in that kind of a company. No? I’m starting to like the way you think. Your company knows that dressing up for work doesn’t make things happen. Sure, go ahead and dress up when you’re speaking the press (maybe), but in the office, or addressing your troops I’d rather work for the guy who worried about the product than his looks. So, does your VP wear a suit?

On Friday on my way back from the train station, I dropped in to the Apple Store on Market Street to test my self will not to buy a iPod Nano. Inside, I saw the most interesting thing. Every single computer in the store was being used by people as if the store was an internet cafe. People were writing emails on Yahoo and Hotmail, checking their messages on MySpace, browsing craigslist and doing all sorts of varied things. About a third of the folks were typing away in Spanish, firing off emails in every direction. Some girls were taking photos of each other and posting them online. How cool is that? The Apple Store was a hub for after work connectivity for people from all walks of life. You can’t buy goodwill like that.

Windows has these following networks listed in the order below in my network settings. I thought it was a bit interesting to share where they’re from:

• MSFTWLAN – Microsoft’s corporate wireless network, works across continents and offices so I don’t have to switch networks based on my location
• MissionNet – my home in Shanghai. Called MissionNet since it’s the same wirelss router I had when I lived on Mission Street
• SmokeNet – my parents place in New Jersey. Called ‘Smoke’ since it’s a part of their street address
• SunsetWire – Ami’s apartment in San Francisco. Named for the district of San Francisco she’s in, plus ‘wire’ since it’s a 2Wire router
• NRT-AIRPORT – Narita Airport, Tokyo. They have pay-per-day internet access at the airport and I find myself there frequently enough that it’s worth keeping

Last Wednesday Richard and I had dinner at Vedas in the French Concession. It’s the second Indian restaurant I’ve been to in Shanghai. The first one, Indian Kitchen, was pretty bad both times I went serving up fairly flavorless dishs. Vedas, thankfully, was pretty good. I’d rate it average to above average compared to Indian restaurant in the Bay Area. I had the palak panner. The palak wasn’t bad (right texture but the flavor wasn’t the best) but the panner was excellent and what I expected it to be. Richard said he enjoyed the lamb he ordered, as well. They claim on their menu’s to be the only authentic Indian resturant in Shanghai and from my experience it holds up. Now, if only I can find a good Mexican restaurant.

Quick note, back in California from Shanghai. Will be here for about a week doing some classes in SF and working in the office for the rest of the week.

The New York Times’ weekly piece, ‘”36 Hours” focuses this week on the South of Market district of San Francisco, my old home (at 7th and Mission). Of the list of things they mention to do in Soma, I’ve only done three: kayak in the bay at City Kayak, visit SF MOMA and been dancing at Mezzanine. It’s hard to consider City Kayak really in Soma, it’s more on the Embarcadero but the latter two were about a 10 minute walk from my house. The restaurants and bars change so frequently that I haven’t been to any that were listed.

When I used to live in California (even more so in Southern CA), the weather was never something that crossed my mind. I always was able to assume “good”. Even in Northern CA, “good enough” was all that I ever thought about. Here in Shanghai, I’ve grown in a new appreciation for the fine art of meteorology and being constantly aware of how it feels outside the windows from this 16F office. My companion in this adventure is the Yahoo Weather Gadget which constantly reminds me of how awful the next three days are going to be. However, starting yesterday things have started to look up!

The next three days are in the 9s and 10s (that’s the high 40s and low 50s for you Fahrenheit fans) and sunny! Of course, in the evenings, it’s still going to be freezing (literally). The days still feel bitter cold, but at least the humid cold seems to have passed and perhaps the days are starting to warm. One of my key requirements for my next apartment is going to be how close to the subway tunnels it is so I can avoid exposure to the elements on the way to and from work.

Forgot to post that I read We Are All The Same by Jim Wooten about a month back. It’s a touching tale of a young Zulu boy growing up with AIDs and his adoptive mother. The book (more like novella) covers the 12 years of Noski’s life, from his birth in a shanty town to his adoption by a white family to his speech giving at international AIDS conferences, to his untimely death. It’s not written in the most accessible of styles (it feels like it’s written for a TV script) but the story is touching and moving yet depressing (all signs of a good book).

I’m back in Shanghai after an uneventful flight on Air Macau from MFM to PVG. The airline, Air Macau, was quite impressive. While they only fly a few routes, all via MFM airport, their planes are clean and new-ish, they were on time both flights and served dinner (gasp!) in both directions. As I mentioned before at the checkin desk for Air Macau there seemed to be quite a bit of confusion regarding my passport. I handed it over to check in and it took two people and some bit of explanation as to how I’d be allowed back in China. With most flights that connect to the mainland the airline will check to see if you have the appropriate visa to enter. They do it in Tokyo as well. I should mention a bit about the airport as well. It’s built on a man-made island off of one of the Macau islands and the runway is a water-on-three-sides jetty that comes off from the island. On both take off and landing it felt that I was moving on water. Not unlike San Francisco airport, but way more intense.

Saturday was spent walking around Macau, the morning and afternoon in the ‘Penha’ area, which is the southern part of the island. I made way to the Penha Church at the top of the temple which has great views of Macau Tower and is cute on in its own right. The walk up the hill that it’s on is quite intense and you pass by a lot of beautiful looking Portuguese homes all painted in primary colors.

Back down the hill, the A-Ma Temple is a beautiful Buddhist temple built in to the hill with steps that criss-cross the hillside to allow you to talk to various places of worship. As most Buddhist temples I’ve seen in China, the devout outnumber the tourists by an order of magnitude. While incense is a welcome part of any temple, one peculiar thing about the temples I saw here were the cylindrical incense columns that are hung from the ceiling. They have a pyramidal shape and burn from the bottom of the spiral up and they’re hung all over the place. 

Later in the afternoon on Saturday, I visited the iconic landmark of Macau, the ruins of Saint Paulo. They do indeed make for a beautiful sight, on top of the hill that they claim. The walk from the Largo do Senado to the ruins is also quite nice, it’s all pedestrian and full of shops selling different types of meat jerkeys and almond cookies (I bought a ton of the latter). Off to the side of the ruins is Fort Monte, which is now host to the Macau Museum. Since it had started raining, I didn’t get much time around the Fort so I planned a return trip for the next day.

After dinner in the evening, I went to the Sands Casino, operated by the Galaxy Casino Company (or something like that) from Las Vegas. It’s much newer and more comfortable from the perspective of someone who learned to gable in Las Vegas. It’s more spacious and the layout is much easier to comprehend. It lacks the old-time charm of the Lisboa, but I still managed to lose about four hours in its bowels. I spent most of the time in the “Pearl Room”, which is on the first floor and offers smoke free (gasp!) gamling. Oh, right. The gambling. The tables only play HKD, no MOP, so I went in on a roulette table with 1000 HKD and played for a while. At my best I was up to 4000-ish HKD but left the casino with a whole 150 HKD in my pocket. For more on the gambling growth read on.

Sunday got off to a lazy and slow start. I checked out the Guia Lighthouse and the Guia Public Park. The park itself is well manicured and well laid out. The lighthouse, like most sights here, was on top of a hill and nice walk up. And also like most sights here, it’s beautifully washed in pastel colors. In fact, while walking around the lighthouse it doesn’t look unlike pictures I’ve of seen of Santorini. The church that’s adjacent to the light house houses a wonderful set of frescos from who-knows-when.

The Kun An Temple came next, which was a brief 25 minute walk from the lighthouse (all downhill). It’s much like the A-Ma Temple that I wrote about earlier but laid out much differently, in to three columns with three ‘rooms’ in each. The center column contains a different style Buddha in each, with a laughing Buddha in the middle (I can’t recall the other two). After the Temple, it was off to the Macau Museum which is also quite well done and new. It hosts an interesting set of comparative cultural information from the European and Chinese heritage of the SAR. After that, it was off to the airport and now I’m back in Shanghai.

Overall, I really enjoyed Macau. I’m glad I made it to the SAR before it’s become (more) overrun by tourists and gamblers. The amount of hyper-development that’s in progress will transform this place in the next ten years. The island and peninsula of Macau are growing, physically, to meet the demands that will be placed by the developing tourist economy. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend a visit, even for the non- or passive gambler.