Mission complete

It's done... Excercised my options, sold the shares the comp gave me, and claimed all my stocks that I held for ATI. Not that I am leaving the company or losing faith in it, but I guess since there's much uncertainties surrounding the merger with AMD; it would be a good idea just to have a little bit more cash in my pocket... ho ho. And the other fact is that PS3 will be hitting us soon. Came back from Shanghai 2 Fridays ago and it had dead busy... preparing presentations, presenting (and shaking) in front mgmt who probably drive Cayennes or Ferraris to McDonalds, coordinating new things for the team in SH, and watching how everything is changing day by day. I was lucky enough to meet up with some friends and also rollerbladed (pics coming tomorrow) with the company folks over the weekend. Still have much friends to meet before I leave next week again. I'll send out an email or evite soon after this work madness dies down! Ciao~ and hope I'll get to update this bloggie soon!

People in Shanghai

I would like to comment on the people in SH after spending so much time and getting exposed to various groups of people - I might have talked briefly about this in some earlier blogs, but here's a more in depth view of the population. The young population mostly comprises of mild mannered working class: these are the ones who works hard behind the scenes (mainly at restaurants or in service sector). I can understand why sometimes they look pissed - I would be too, if I made like 100RMB/day while seeing these rich people pushing me around, saying that some dish is just a little too salty or something. At the airport today, I saw a girl microwave a dish of rice for dinner and sat alone in an alley that was piled up with used bottles and dishes from the restaurant she works in. Two steps away are the spoiled customers (including myself I guess) buying a bowl of noodle that is worth their all day salary (I feel bad for them, but what can I say? at least I treat them with respect). Another instance I want to raise up is my farewell bash at SH, the mgr next door (also from Toronto) treated me to a very upscale Jap restaurant that featured very nice decors and an open kitchen. One of the dishes was noodles placed in an ice bowl (carved out just for the meal) and must have cost around 350RMB, I know I wouldn't feel so bad if I was back in TO eating this as the salary would be similar between diff. classes. He also said to me; 'relax Edmund, you have to enjoy and understand your benefits! You hang around locals way too much'. Now don't get me wrong - I very much appreciate him always helping / mentoring me and exposing me to the more higher class and upper mgmt; but I do think that in order for us to really understand who we are and how we fit into the world - we have to also look behind the corner and see how the locals live. It may not be a pretty sight, and may also get us in trouble (one of the security guys at where I lived asked me to loan him $ already - a story for another time); but since I'm still young, I'll continue to believe in trying to see more, and hopefully understand a little bit more about myself in the process.

Back home!

Took Friday off (today) to mainly pack and get ready to go head home to catch the flight at 7:00. Also needed to attend to some things like picking up last minute souveniers, an along with getting money to pay the rent for next month; just when I thought that I had seen enough of SH already - and left my camera back home; guess what? I saw Kelly Chan at the big local mall district performing a function!!! Gosh, I even lined up and shook hands with her too, but too bad; no camera... oh well, at least I get bragging rights ;p Anyways, I'm home in Toronto already - left Friday evening (SH time) and arrived here Friday night (TO time). Convenient, isn't it? Oh well, I guess I'll have to make up 1 day extra time when I fly over to SH next time round :S

Coming home... finally

Woohoo... Finally can come home soon. Will fly this Friday afternoon; although ATI doesn't offer no more biz class after the merger, but i'm still highly hyped up for the trip back home... afterall, can come back to enjoy the weather, spend time with family and friends, zoom around in my car, and to breath fresh air to lighten up my lungs... and basically to recharge. The Mgr next door was so funny, he is going to hold a farewell bash for me despite i'm only going to be back in Toronto for 2/3 weeks... lols. Anyways, highly lookin fwd to be home and meeting with some of ya, but i'm back after learnin Some Siu-Lam Kung Fu (transcript in pic!) Woooo.

Short trip last weekend in China

Haven't updated my blog for a while already; last week took Friday off for a long weekend and went to HangZho and SuZho with the family. The saying that 苏州 (Suzho) produces pretty girls in ancient Chinese literature isn't fake at all, as the girls has more smooth skin, and are generally more polite and elegant. We had to wake up both days around 6ish and was a bit tiring but it was worth it as there's also another saying that goes by 上有天堂,下有苏杭 (there's paradise above, and there's Suzho and Hangzho below) boasting about the beautiful scenery in these two Chinese provinces. The scenery were nice alright; but I find it a bit too hot with that nasty feeling of sweat and stickiness. Nevertheless, good thing we didn't have to cram into the trains that was packed like sardines as we commuted by car. Here's some pics, the background with myself in it is called the 'sword pool' with 3000 legendary swords in them. Cool, since I'm a huge fan of chinese martial art legends.