Traveling like a consultant

Perhaps it was pure coincidence that I watched Up in the Air last night... pretty good movie which I highly recommend, by the way.

As a former consultant, I maximize efficiency. At the airport, that means minimize the time I spend waiting for others. So when I switched a 5pm flight to a 10pm flight because a meeting ran overtime, I've already planned how to leisurely stroll into my seat a minute after the gates close. Game plan: leave office at 740pm, arrive at boat terminal at 8pm for a 815pm 30 minute boat ride to arrive at 845pm, giving me more than enough time to enjoy the lounge and have dinner there.

Instead, here's what transpired...

Actually, perhaps the seeds were planted even earlier...

140pm: Meeting ran overtime... going to miss my flight... checking flight scheds... email travel agent to switch me to a later flight...
230pm: Travel agent emailed "no flight at 1010pm"
240pm: WTF are you talking about (No, I didn't say that...), it's CX 709
241pm: Oh... you are flying from HK, not Bangkok!
242pm: OMG, you are a fucking idiot (No, I didn't say that...)
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740pm: Leaving the office...
750pm: uh oh, the main road to the terminal is blocked for no apparent reason
803pm: 12 minutes to get a ticket, go thru customs and immigration
804pm: Sorry, we accept cash only for boat tickets
804pm: WTF... (No, I didn't say that...)
805pm: Bought ticket... with cash
805pm: Sir, you have to check in your flight over there
805pm: Sir, we can't see your reservation
808pm: (Fiddling with my Blackberry) Here's my reservation number, flight number... and my previous flight number
811pm: Sir, here's your reservation. But... we can't let you on the boat unless you have a ticket... and we can't give you a ticket unless you've paid the fee for changing your ticket...
811pm: Urrr... here's my credit card
812pm: And we can't accept payments here...
812pm: WTF... (I did say that...) let me find my travel agent at 812pm. WTF... (I did say that) Sorry, I'm not swearing at you, I'm swearing at my idiot travel agent...
813pm: (Annoying customer waiting behind me) Excuse me, can you guys open another line to serve us?
815pm: (After some phone calls...) Sir, we can let you on the boat. We've held it for you. Please run.
(WTF... couldn't you guys have done that at 810pm?)
816pm: running... running... immigration... running... other dude running after me... I have to sign a waiver in case I miss my flight... running... running...
818pm: On the boat! It's leaving 3 minutes late thanks to me!
848pm: Hong Kong Airport! Full hour before my flight... just have to pay my fine and check in...
851pm: Sir, our credit card machine isn't working... Sir, there is no ATM in this section...
900pm: Sir, sorry to keep you waiting... we've found a credit card machine...
911pm: Woohoo... finally at the lounge
941pm: (Announcement) Mr. Lam, please go to your gate!
949pm: In my seat
955pm: Gate closed! I got there a couple minutes early. Must make it tighter next time.
1208am: Finishing this blog entry
112am: Arrive at hotel lobby... fudge, I'm SPG Gold now... I miss complimentary breakfast and Internet!

Emirates A380 - How big is it really?

Side note for Emirates from my consultant mind: when I checked in at Emirates,they simply put me in zone F, which means zones A-E board first, then in zone G for the Dubai-Sao Paulo... and I had such high expectations of their services. The flight was good, the entertainment system was good, the service was very nice, and the food was horrendous. But I thought they missed a great chance to convert me from Cathay though.

Imagine if all gate agents asked "Sir/Madam, are you a frequent flier member on any other airlines?" If they find some Silver/Gold/Platinum/Diamond/Other exotic metal members, they immediately offer a new mileage card (fill in contact info first) and first time user privilege (upgrade, use of lounge, board first... all if available). Wouldn't you capture some new loyal-to-other-airlines customers right away? Instead, I get dumped to zone F and spent 20 minutes in line wondering why I didn't take the Cathay flight.

All in all, the Emirate experience was still a pretty good one. I also had the chance to ride on the A380... the bigness of it can only be appreciated by pictures... and unfortunately, I wasn't flying during the day so there really wasn't an opportunity to have the A380 against a 747 or 777 to get a good perspective on its size. I shall try anyway.

Here's one of the wing of a regular aircraft (Airplane nerds please tell me the model):

And this is the A380... I can't even get a picture of the whole wing of the A380! And it covers the whole Kenyan Airline AIRPLANE!

Otherwise, the inside is a bit of an anti-climax: it looks like all the Airbus internals, although it comes in 2 floors (I didn't get to go up...). The stairs, in case that would interest you.

 

 

The Consultant Lifestyle

In order to avoid a potential 3 hour commute from HK to SZ during the long weekend (alas, it happened the day before, damn it), I stayed with my consulting friend in SZ for the night at the Futian Shangri-La.

And you know what... I miss that lifestyle immediately. Walking into the grand hotel lobby, with everybody smiling at you, nice room, nice shower, all the toiletries, the neatly tucked bed, all the TV channels, food at a touch of the button away. And the miles and starwood points....! Sick. Why would I think that?

Then again, I went to sleep at 1130pm, and I think my friend pulled an all nighter. Okay then. On with life.

Miss Shanghai

No, not the beauty pageant... I mean I actually miss Shanghai sometimes. And with no doubt, I will miss my Le Meridien room the most. In fact, I'm thinking of buying a place in Hong Kong that has the exact room measurements so I can model my home after my hotel room. Sad? Maybe. See before you judge.

The hotel room is the junior suite in Le Meridien. I've been in the bigger suites but have always asked to move back to the junior suite (no, I did not try the presidential suite, as I did in the haunted Taipei Grand Hyatt) cus I like it so much.

In essence, it is a big studio separated by a TV. A rotating TV, to be specific. This way, the room still feels big and at the same time separates the living room from the bed room. Really liked the setting and the idea. Highly highly recommended hotel (if you get this room).

Rotating TV (from the sofa)

Rotating TV when brushing teeth

I've also miraculously lost weight in Shanghai. All thanks to this guy: the electronic weight. Amazing what monitoring your weight every day can do to your diet. Among the findings: Italian food increases your weight by about 2-3 pounds. A night sleep makes you lighter by ~3 pounds. If you have the "full" feeling, you will likely pack 3+ pounds vs. the night before. In winter, my clothes and shoes are about 5-8 pounds.

Speaking of weight loss... I had a bit of fun doing this... but here's a not-so-patented system. The DEWLEI (Canton people will understand the inside joke):

DEWLEI, pronounced Diu-Lei, or Daily Electronic Weight Loss Enforcing Indicator:

1. Buy highly accurate electronic scale with at least one decimal place
2. Place in bathroom
   
3. Weigh yourself right before you go to bed, in your PJs or naked (Naked recommended)
4. Record the weight on a piece of paper
5. Go to sleep
6. Wake up, go pee, and weigh yourself in the same clothes or naked (Naked recommended) - be careful not to take a shower yet
7. Record the weight on a piece of paper
8. Go to the office
9. Open Excel
10. Enter your weight - night and day weight
11. Calculate 5-day running average for night and for day
12. Plot it on a chart
    
13. Think about the chart; think again;
    
14. Do something about it

As an added bonus, if you are truly dedicated, think about what you ate and did that day as the avg goes up or down. That will help tremendously.

DIULEI, it works.

Okay, back to the blog. I'm treated as a royal in Le Meridien... but the most important treatment of all is the breakfast buffet. This is my little creation every single morning. Assorted fruits with assorted nuts and raisins. I add some cereal and dry oatmeal sometimes. LOVE IT. Too bad this will cost a fortune in HK (we import all our fruits). Oh well.

Shopping in Hong Kong

Random links: ought to have been a banker... Tibet monastery reopens (finally - with spies, of course)... and the Aussies mimed during the Olympics too (Don't get confused... I'm not justifying the Chinese replacing the poor little girl cus she wasn't good looking enough - the Aussies did it for the sake of the event... the Chinese... I don't know what they were thinking)

Anyway, PNGF is in town and naturally, we go shopping.

• Target: mobile phone that can browse Internet
• Shops: all are fair game

Well, apparently, what they call a "Shopping Paradise" is not really. We spend half the day walking around Hong Kong and this is what transpired:

1. Fortress (Central): okay, so with my expertise in cell phones (laugh), I recommended the HTC Diamond, LG KS20, Samsung F488, Nokia E-66 and E-71. PNGF put all of them in her hand and ruled out LG KS20 immediately. Can we try browsing Internet please? NOPE. Is there any phone we can try? NOPE. Jeez.
   
2. 1010 Shop (Central): Nobody really helped us... Can I try some phones and brwose the Internet? You can try the Diamond over here. Is there one that can use English? Over there. It's not working... The Chinese one can work. Can you change the language menu? NOPE. Anyway, I got to the browser and tried to use the touch screen to type in www.cnn.com. Couldn't do it. PNGF is not liking it.
   
3. Elements (Kowloon): Hong Kong's hottest mall is also the biggest disappointment. A poorly design mall that felt more like a chamber than a nice stroll among stores. The five elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) hosted different types of store and blah blah blah. Frankly, bad mall with no reliable map to tell you where you are and what else there is. Given the success of other malls (Times Square, IFC), I can't believe a mall designer won't use an open space to show case shops on differnet floors and also create a sense of openness. And of course the two electronic stores that were there were completely useless (Fortress and Broadway). PNGF was able to test the F488 at Fortress a little bit. Saleperson had no idea how to type English though (nor teach us).
   
4. Nokia (Causeway Bay): Back in shopping mecca Causeway Bay, we finally were able to browse the Internet on an E-66 and E-71. Took the staff a while to change the phone to English and also activate the Internet though. Staff was very helpful and we got very good attention and was finally able to test browsing on a phone. PNGF liked the QWERTY keyboard very much. E-71 it is for now. She still wants to try a touch screen...
5. Fortress: This is truly frustrating. Can we try the F488? Here you go. Oh, can you switch the menu to English? No, this is my personal phone. PNGF: Forget it.
   
6. Broadway: Again, there's only a demo for F488, and nobody can use it in English. The other phones didn't have any demo. Josekin: that's why Broadway will never be #1. I meant to say that about Fortress too... but they are #1 for no good reason.
   
7. Chung Yuen: The salesperson with a mask was very helpful. He showed us two Sony Ericssons (which I knew weren't very good) and had a good demo on how we can browse Internet. The only problem is that we need to use a keypad to enter the alphabets and it's slow. Oh, and the masked man was also very helpful in answering all our other questions about other handsets. No demo, but at least the answers are helpful. PNGF has narrowed it way down: HTC Diamond and Nokia E71.
   
8. 1010 Shop: SAM KWOK. Mr. Kwok was extremely helpful. We asked for a Diamond demo (We've only gotten a very unhelpful one in Central), and Mr. Kwok took one out. He showed us how to play with it, let PNGF handle it (I like the wow factor on this phone, she says), and answered all the little questions we had (like how do I find out about the weather in New York). Um, we got greedy... can we try the Blackberry Pearl and Bold too? Mr. Kwok: no problem. My colleague will assist you. 5 minutes later, PNGF decided the HTC Diamond was for her and I decided the Blackberry Bold will be my next phone. Finally, the shopping odyssey ended.

Lessons, as always: LET THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IT. And if it's good, they'll be sold in a second (okay, a few minutes).

3:11am dilemma

It's been a while since I experienced a time stamp entry. This seems to be a good time to have one.

Tuesday night
21:00 - Manager is heading back home; she wants the slides by 0600 the next day. No problemo. She's had a few tough days and needs the rest tonight. Nothing she can do anyway before we give her the most updated version.
23:59 - well, no one said consulting was easy. Nonetheless, the second/third night pass midnight is always alarming (first time in a year... not bad, I guess). On the bright side, progress is good and all the presentations are coming together quite well

Wednesday morning
1:30 - only two consultants left... RK left after completing her slides as AW and myself are going through the slides just once more to make sure they are error free and good to go for a Thursday meeting
2:30 - I'm the only one left. I'm also waiting for a slide from an analyst. Let's hope that comes in time.
2:42 - Yes. My slides are complete now. Combining the outputs from all parties into one...
2:58 - Checking one last time
3:06 - Checking one one more more last last time time
3:11 - Apparently, the "Send" button on Outlook means send happiness through veins and send brain to sleep; My manager would be pleased.

Just as I thought the night was over and I'm good to go... within 10 seconds of my email leaving the Outbox, the Inbox flashes... the partner on the case sends a new version of the slides: we are to use her version as the master version and all edits should be done on her version!

I mean, good God, I've never felt so defeated as I completed a task!

Except for one small problem: there's no attachment! Holy Bain, what should I do!? Ah, the dilemma I face:

1. Scenario 1: Do I pretend that I didn't receive the email? Or ask for the attachment after I get home? The work can be done the next morning, I suppose.
   
2. Scenario 2: Do I recognize that it is 3:11am and that any instructions at this hour should be simply deferred and then acknowledged the following morning (and doing it)?
   
3. Scenario 3: Do I alert her to the fact that there is no attachment? I foresee several iterations of this:

• Scenario A: partner does not receive my alert in time. Consequences similar to 1 or 2.
  
• Scenario B: actual file sent to me. I follow scenario 2.
• Scenario C: actual file sent to me. I consolidate all versions of the file and send the final result to my manager before 0600

3:12 - Honestly, I thought about all the above scenarios at 3:11am. I considered all the options. My heart had hoped for Scenario 3A, where I do what a good employee should do but not have to do the work (heh heh). Of course...

04:11 - exactly one hour after the double whammy (well, to be exact, it's a single whammy), I sent out the final consolidated version.

It wasn't funny at 3:11am then. But it is now. =) And it makes for a great blog entry. What would you do...?

Bain Train

Did I ever mention that the MBA was like a dream? Well, it seems like I'm finally waking up from the dream. Waking me up? None other than "Training in Miami"...!

Allow me to explain. Training is not taken lightly at Bain. The fact that they flew us all the way to Miami for a week and put us all up at the very expensive Intercontinental (Completely and utterly overrated... some might call it piss poor) shows their commitment to training. We worked for six days straight, usually past dinner. Anyway, with serious training comes serious thoughts.

Many would argue that working for the big banks (sorry, Bear Stearns) and consulting firms is like a continuation of the MBA. Your peers are fellow MBAs from similar programs. The life is sort of un-real with all the money and travel straight out of school. Everybody is smart and you always feel dumb. Speaking of this feeling, a PhD friend of mine tells me that Stanford has sessions to settle the new PhDs down since they always feel dumb among their peers. Point is, you feel dumb when you hang around smart people. Yet I digress: back to the parallels.

Bain training is sort of like brining you back to the MBA. Lots of learning in a very low risk environment. And yet, you are constantly reminded that these are the tools that you will need to be able to do well at Bain. Some may be left behind if the tools are not learned and performance is not good. Clearly, it's not an MBA anymore. This is serious business. The real world has always been harsher than the dream world.

You are back in the USA when...?

Top ten signs that you are back in the USA (from a traveling consultant's point of view):

10. You find extra time to blog since the lines are so freaking long AND slow
9. Strangers talk to you at strange times
8. Screaming flight attendants
7. Overrated expensive hotel rooms
6. No complimentary water... or complimentary anything on flights
5. Lines for economy class are longer than that for business class
4. You feel quite fit, especially when eating at the airport food court
3. Butt cracks... back hair... arg...
2. "Take off your shoes please and put them in the X-ray"
1. Instead of elbowing for the arm rest, an Asian special, it's spilling fat over to take possession of an arm rest

Holy... my life just might change...

I can read my blog post via Google Reader on The Crackeric (that's right, I just named it)! Wow, this might really have a large impact on my life. Did you know I subscribe to about 60 different RSS feeds of different blogs and websites? This means I can read SG articles on the run. SG ARTICLES! ON THE RUN!

I think this might have a bigger impact than "my boss can locate me at any given moment via email." (And you think I'm kidding!?)

(Also important to note: I will read this post on The Crackeric later tonight when I am having a foot massage!)

On Crack...

That's right, I finally got my first blackberry. A partner warned us that it is life changing. We'll see.

In fact, one of the main reason that I am writing this post is because I want to see if the post will show up in Google Reader.

I've moved into my new home for 2 weeks now; today is the first day that I took a non-cab public transportation from the office to the new home. I don't know why this is important to disclose.

Let's see if the Crackberry picks up the new blog post...

Bain terms...

Couple of new terms I love, courtesy of Bain parter PH (a.k.a. person who explained at-cause... not sure if that was his invention):

• Bain Jujitsu - something you don't like? that's fine. right back at you: think of how to fix it!
• Virtual Baby - parents can leave at 8pm because they have to attend to their baby at home; what's your virtual baby at 8pm?

(Random note: bloggers are in danger! Yet I digress.)

Back to virtual baby: I started writing the below on Jan 1st... then kept it on the shelf. Oh well. Jan was a low productivity month in terms of blogging. It's a comment I posted in response to a friends blog:

• "If you can't find satisfaction from work, it is indeed difficult to zero in on those non-work, non-sleep time and find a lot of happiness. 敬業樂業 is difficult to do. I believe this is one course the GSB, or any MBA program, didn't teach. For two years, I lived a life that was unrealistically fun and fulfilling and focused on changing careers. Now that I have succeeded, I find it hard to refocus on the new career and find fun and fulfillment from it."

Hold on... I need to understand my own English. Okay, let's move on.

The virtual baby idea ties nicely to the comment. In an ideal world, you make your living by doing something you absolutely love. That is, however, not always the case. If you can't find satisfaction from work, then you have to find satisfaction from life - i.e. the virtual baby.

What's yours?

I think mine is in travel and photography. (Not a good excuse to tell my team that I have to leave at 8pm though!!!) Will continue to develop these.

While I'm on work, Mark Cuban has some wisdom (!) on effort, sweat equity, and his passion for what he does for a living. Mark is obviously a very lucky person. Or was he so determined that he made his own luck?

Last note:

I'm off to San Francisco to watch the Superbowl (On TV, with college buddies) for the weekend. 32 hours of airplane for 30 hours of madness with friends and PNGF. The Wing Squad (2007) lives on. And to think in 2006 that the Wing Squad was over!

Sweetest Upgrade!

The day wasn't smooth at all. I've come to realize working away from the team is extremely inefficient. Despite what technology can do for us, we still need to see the face in order to work closely together. The tone can be interpreted many different ways and, more often than not, does not represent what the speaker intended.

Back to my story. I'm working inefficiently from Hong Kong with my team in Shanghai. Eventually, did get things done and rushed to the airport. I knew I mis-timed it and so I missed my flight. The next one was an hour and a half later. I got off the stand by list and cursed myself for timing everything so tight.

Naturally, when I landed, I realized that I didn't have enough Taiwanese dollars to take the cab to the hotel! There was an ATM at the airport... except that it didn't work with my card. Both machines at both ends of the terminal didn't spit out cash. At least I got a good work out walking from one end to the other (most consultants work out by running from the terminal entrance to the gate area).

Oh well... I got on the cab (By the way, the Taipei airport cab line is very difficult to figure out. Some sort of union has some sort of rules for some sort of drivers and destinations. I'm still figuring... yet I digress) and asked the driver to get me to an ATM in Taipei so I can pay him afterwards.

By the time I got to the Grand Hyatt, it was almost 11pm. The following conversation took place...

Receptionist: Mr. Lam, our hotel is full. Would you mind being upgraded to the diplomatic suite?
Lam: Of course... as long as I don't have to pay for it!
Receptionist (without prompt): You may never want to live in our regular rooms any more...

Well then. Without further ado:

The study

The living room

The living room 2

The kitchen

The bedroom

The bathroom (steam room and jacuzzi)

Unfortunately, one of the most important invention in human history still looks that same as the regular peasants... so I won't honor it with a picture.

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It's the toilet, man... what did you think it was? While you're at it... imagine this world without toilets!? I think it's slightly worse than "world without TV remotes."

Oh... while you are wondering how long this post is going to be... no worries. I feel obliged to tell you what goes on in a diplomatic suite, which, by the way, is only about USD1000 a night. Yup, it's one of those weird things you do: you get something nice and you want to measure it in dollars, even though it came to you free of charge. Why are we so materialistic!?

When I woke up the next day to ponder my good fortunes, I noticed that a bottle of whiskey is opened already. While I didn't pay much attention to it during the day, it immediately came to my attention at night... hmm... maybe it's complimentary. Thanks to my colleagues who have flocked over, I placed a call to the front desk:

Lam: Hi... I noticed an opened whiskey bottle in the room...
Front desk: Oh, I'm sorry. We'll get a new one for you right away.
Lam (like a child who just did something wrong): Um... so we can drink from the open bottle, right?
Front desk: We'll send someone up right away.

(5 minutes later)
Someone: Don't worry, sir, you can still drink from the open bottle. They don't go bad.
(Well, that's not why I called...)
Lam: So... all this (pointing to racks of liquor) is... free?
Someone: Yes, sir.

Woohoo. We drank away. I know I know, I sound like an immature child given a new toy. Then again, I feel like you need to know these things... including the sweet sound system in the room: two awesome B&O system (one in the living room and another in the bathroom). Made me want to get them... badly.

Okay, enough with the high life. I feel dirty.

I must have done something right...

I'm staying in the Taipei Grand Hyatt Diplomatic Suite... not sure if that means President's Suite... but I went into the "hotel room" and got lost. Took me a while to find the bedroom.

More on this later... I'm too psyched about it. As of now, I love consulting.

It'll happen... eventually

Last Saturday, I flew to Beijing. Earlier today, I flew from Beijing to Shanghai - by the way, we sat on the tarmac for almost doubt the flight time due to the snow. Two days later, I will fly from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Three days later, I will fly from Hong Kong to Taipei.

Yup, flying more means more things like this happens.

Anyway, last Thursday I traveled back to Hong Kong with a colleague of mine. We both tried to work in the taxi: I gave up after 15 minutes; he lasted half way before almost throwing up... which made me think about "it'll happen eventually":

• Throws up in the cab while working on laptop
• Drops laptop while placing laptop on check in counter
• Burs lap while creating blank slides
  
• Drops laptop while placing laptop on handle bar of luggage
• Develop tendinitis due to carrying opened laptop on the lid
• Drops laptop with laptop on lap and waking up from an unexpected nap
• Leave laptop in the magazine pocket in the plane
• Drops laptop when (Chinese taxi) driver swerves to pass other swerving Chinese taxis
• Leave laptop in security scanner

And I'll freely admit that I've thought about the beauty of having a Crackberry about 1,325 times this past week.

Naturally, I'm writing this blog because I narrowly missed my (first time!) flight to Taipei. Next flight is an hour out. Sorry, I wish it was more dramatic like my Bain Boston trip. Maybe next time... not.

Finally, I can do a visa commercial...

34-inch high pants: $170 (Thank you, SS, for the inspiration)

Bad shirt: $60

Black glasses: $38

Tape, name label: free

Dressing up as a nerd for the company Xmas party and walking around Central (think Wall Street meets Times Square) in nerd outfit: priceless

Footnote: All figures in HKD.

Note: diligent readers have noticed that I put "No #1" while it should have been #2. Well, that's what the sign says. I'm just the messenger.

Without Techonology

"Damn, what did they do when they didn't have SMS/blackberry/etc?"

Chances are, you've thought about this question when you are furiously typing away during a meeting, on the plane, in the lounge... and you've probably also wondered how people lived without TV, phone, and all those gadgets that make our lives work.

Well, I've put that to the test last few week:
Internet - limited. Client site doesn't allow Internet access. There are several Warm to Cold spots around the office where I can hook to wireless networks.
Phone - good. I can't call. But I can receive calls. And send SMS.
Blackberry - luckily, I don't have one.
TV - virtually none. Hotel TV shows Taiwanese and Japanese stuff.

There were some frustrating moments obviously. Not having Internet is kind of nuts, but I've come to find that it isn't disastrous. Things take a bit longer, but they nonetheless work. Not having a TV hasn't even affected me a bit.

You know one thing I can't not have though? It's the air conditioning. I needed that.

Well, so in the end, comfort trumps convenience. =)

Time to wake up, baby!

I have a tendency to wake up several minutes before my alarm sounds. Don't know why. It just happens every now and then. Today, however, was a bit different.

I woke up to an earthquake! At least I thought I woke up to an earthquake.

Funny how the human mind works. Instead of snoozing - most evil invention #6 - for half an hour or so, everything cleared and I took a quick look around the room to see where I can hide. So instead of staying in bed, I was up immediately with all joints working.

Which leads to my next consultant / entrepreneur thought: an earthquake alarm clock!

Taiwan Taxi

I can't imagine what it is like to not have Internet access. But I'm getting close. I've spent most of this week without Internet access during business hours. Let's just say that it is excruciatingly painful. Doubly so when you are left alone.

Taiwan taxis are like taxis anywhere in the world. The drivers are slightly crazy and have an opinion on just about anything. Most are friendly (Shanghai the lone exception) and are curious as to who you are and what you do. All are talkative. Most are courteous (Shanghai is the lone exception). All are dangerous drivers. Cars are nice and clean. Most are small (Hong Kong, of all places, being the lone exception) size cars that can barely fit you in the door.

This particular Taiwan taxi, however, was mind bottling.

Travelling between two client sites, I slipped in the cab and quickly snoozed. The ride is usually 20 to 30 minutes long. I just had back-to-back client meetings and I was feeling quite tired… by the meetings certainly, but also by the prospect of the impeding work that I have to deliver. Anyway, I was drifting in and out of consciousness. I did try to stay awake and alert and notice the roads and where I am, but it only worked for a few seconds before I went back to nap again.

Yeah, so far it's like a regular cab ride. I finally woke up probably 5 minutes from the destination, noted that I'm very close to the destination, and started people watching from inside the cab. Suddenly, some corny music starts in the cab, stopping the radio broadcast. I looked back in the cab to see what is going on... and there it is, a porn video - yes, PORN VIDEO - was playing on the DVD screen of the taxi.

Did I say porn video?

Now you have to understand that this is a very awkward situation. Do I watch? Do I talk? Do I keep looking outside the window? Uh... and I hope the driver isn't distracted. Luckily, our man the taxi driver knew exactly what to do.

Taxi driver (TD): Nice, huh?

Slightly amused Josekin (SAJ): uh, yeah

TD: where are you from

SAJ: Hong Kong

TD: Can you buy these in HK?

SAJ: Yeah

TD: For how much?

SAJ (thinking): About $10 Hong Kong dollars

TD: Oh, that's $40... this one is only $20

SAJ: Oh, that's cheap

TD: Yeah, even in Taiwan you can only get one for $50

SAJ: Oh, how did you get yours then?

TD: I'm selling these for $20

Very stunned Josekin ( VSJ): ......!? Huh!?

TD: Yeah, you want Taiwanese? Japanese? American? I have Hong Kong too.

VSJ: What do you mean?

TD: No worries... I'll wrap them nicely for you. Just a regular VCD. You can play this at home. Oh, let me show you the Japanese one (changing discs)

VSJ: ......

TD: It's already very cheap... this price beats the entire market. Can't go lower...

(Arriving at client cite)

VSJ: uh, no thanks. , here's my stop. Thanks!

(All figures in Taiwanese Dollar, unless otherwise indicated)

Beach Time

In consulting, when you are in between cases, you are "on the beach." What does this mean? Well, as I've found out the last two weeks, it means all the hard work you put in during the case and all those lost nights are returned to you. Which means:

No need to be in the office*
Need to work on ad-hoc stuff
Time to get life outside of work back on track

*need to be ready to report within 2 hours if called upon

So yes, I do enjoy consulting.

Meanwhile, I think I just saw Gagne warming up in the bullpen with Paplebon and I threw up in my mouth. As a rule, if you have your best pitcher warming up, you shouldn't have your worst doing the same. Red Sox are ready to clinch another World Series... or so I hope.

Weird pricing schemes

I got myself a TV over the weekend. What I couldn't figure out is the following paying options:

1. Pay $10K now
2. Pay $10K in 12 monthly installments, interest free
3. Pay $10K in 18 monthly installments, interest free
4. Pay $10K in 24 monthly installments, interest free

Is there something U of C didn't teach me here?

(by the way, I added a tag for "consulting" so I can keep track of my comments on general business suggestions and questions. This particular pricing scheme seems to be out of whack with whatever the company is trying to do)