Hey Doc

Well, three weeks into my new job, I start to feel like home now. I have been semi-retired for over four years. I started to wonder if that was the last job I will ever worked. Then this opportunity came. Sounded very much like what I did 25 years ago, my first 'big' job at Intel, so I accepted. Now the circle has completed ;) I remember taking bus to go to school but never to go to work. I guess there are some differences. Going to school, you get to hang out with your class mates on the bus, doing all young kids do. But going to work, you are along. Either looking out the window (if you get a seat) twiddling your thumb or taking a nap if you have a long journey.
Today I ran at a pretty good pace for 40 minutes straight at the track across the street from the apartment. The track has a nice artificial surface and was well lit. During the winter months, it gets dark by 5:30PM. The park I used to run in the morning is not going to work. Plus, this track is much closer.
Lets talk about the food in Shang Hai. They are tasty and way cheap. Start from the breakfast, little steam bums either all meat or vegi and meat. They only cost rmb$0.60 each. Converts to US$, that is $0.08. Three of those steam bums can fill you up. But the store sells it will keep a foreigner from going in. They are not very clean looking. No problem, my stomach can handle it.
Lunch we ate at the food hall in the basement of the office building. rmb$6.00 can get you a huge bowl of noodle soup with lots of toppings or a plate of food that can feel two. For rmb$8.00, you get a chunk of meat, usually a chicken leg of pork chop. For dinner, you can choose cheap or very expensive meals at many locations. One night, three of us blown a rmb$300.00 for a hotpot dinner. That is equivalent of a $600 meal in US.
More on Shang Hai later

WOW is all I can describe the experience riding the Maglev, short for Magnatic Levitation Train. (Learn more here). Did I mentioned that I got a job ? OK, The design team for the group which I work for is located in Shang Hai, China. To better understand the product, I was sent to Shang Hai for a week of training. Maglev that connects the PuDong Airport to Shang Hai suburb is supposedly the first commercial use of this technology in the world. This track was built in 2002, stretches 30 km between PuDong Airport and Shang Hai, well, not quite all the way to downtown Shang Hai, which I don't understand why. From the LongYang Station, the #2 Transrapid Line will take you to the downtown.
That 30 km (18.6 miles) journey took only 7.5 minutes, reaching a top speed of 450 km/hr (280 miles !! That is faster then the race cars at Indy500). Although the train is capable of a top speed of 310 miles/hr but because of the distance of this track, the train has to start decelerate before it reaches the top speed. When we were going at 350 km/hr, another train came from the opposite direction passed us. All I felt was a "thum" and a blurred object passing. Think about this, the relative speed between the two train was 700 km/hr (435 miles/hr).
I got back to Taipei last night. The weather really feels like Winter now. All I did in the 10 days in Shang Hai was eat and at work, no exercise at all. The street there is just not suitable for running. My first visit of Shang Hai was in 1993. Back then, there wasn't any freeway or subway. PuDong was just a old community. Things has changed so much. China is a giant slowly waking up.

Yep, that feeling is back. Turn off the computer, as I walking out of the office, thinking about the weekend coming up, TGIF. I started my new job three days ago here in Taipei. Funny thing is that this is the same type of work as I started working for Intel 25 years ago, electronic technician. I am playing with soldering iron, test instruments again. The difference is now we have computers. It has become a necessary skill everyone must have. Equipment has become complicated and with less parts. Testing requires the help of computers. Not like the old timers using a screw driver, tap here and tap there to trouble shoot.
Because of the working stuff, my morning workout has to be moved to afternoon. It has been difficult to keep up because I am tired, even less motivated. Good thing the air temperature is much tolerable now the winter is coming. Not sure what will be like in summer time. Another thing I won't be doing much is the photography. Work sucks.
Nikon just announced a new pro-sumer DSLR camera, the D-200. I read the spec of that camera, makes me want to get one now. Nikon and Canon is going at it again. When the giants compete, its us little people who gets the benefit. Thanks you very much.