Jie is my friend from college. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life: she seems never worried, stressed, or mad (actually we found she never frown and is not able to frown at all); she never seems to struggle for anything, yet she is always one of the most excellent; she loves to be a developer than a manager yet people always want her to be a manager (Within only 3 months after she got this new job which was after she stayed at home for 3 years for her daughter, she was promoted as a manager again); while everybody tried and struggled to focus one their careers after school, she quit a manager position (already in about 3 years) and became a full time mother for 3 years; while everybody tries to send their kids to different places to take extracurricular courses, she is looking for places that will not overburden her kid; while she is from the most snobbish cities in the world, she gets along with anybody; she is so loved by anybody, yet she is not spoiled at all. To me, she is just everything different from a modern people. Using her own words, her attitude and mood seems never affected by people around her. I am amazed how she could feel safe all the time with all the changes, competititions, and struggles around her. I called her today, and found 10 years later, she still hasn't changed - she is still happy and enjoying what she has.
I had a dinner conversation with my friend from nepal today, and for some reason, there was one sentence that struck me very much - "in china, there are still things to compete; in Nepal, there is nothing to compete".
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
everyday hiking in Queen Anne
My roommate is almost exercise-holic. Watching her spending average 2 hours a day on working out, I feel guity of sitting there all the time. So I decided to change, and determined to walk for at least 30 mins everyday. Since Queen Anne is on the top of a hill, walking around Queen Anne is more or less like hiking.
After I am doing it for a while, I think I couldn't find a better way to spend these 30 minutes. It is truly my quality time! There are just simply plenty of things to see: houses of different styles, flowers of different kinds, cityscape views from different angles, etc. With an uneven geographic surface, the city is layered and the view is layered which means change and richeness. There is also plenty of choices different of paths and steps, so I will never get bored.
I didn't never expect that I could enjoy the activity that much: I could be so relaxed after working for a whole day; I could enjoy different fabulous views; I get exercises and at the same time I don't't need to pay money for it; I could go shopping on the way so I can eat more fresh, etc.
For sure, it will become one of my daily habits!
After I am doing it for a while, I think I couldn't find a better way to spend these 30 minutes. It is truly my quality time! There are just simply plenty of things to see: houses of different styles, flowers of different kinds, cityscape views from different angles, etc. With an uneven geographic surface, the city is layered and the view is layered which means change and richeness. There is also plenty of choices different of paths and steps, so I will never get bored.
I didn't never expect that I could enjoy the activity that much: I could be so relaxed after working for a whole day; I could enjoy different fabulous views; I get exercises and at the same time I don't't need to pay money for it; I could go shopping on the way so I can eat more fresh, etc.
For sure, it will become one of my daily habits!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
still exploring
As time goes along, I find I love Seattle even more! There are many projects I want to explore here: Seattle's coffee houses; Seattle's neighborhoods; Seattle's strong sense of communities; Seattle's eco-friendly practices; Seattle's views; Seattle's national parks; Seattle's artists whose works can be seen in everywhere, etc. It is a city with a soul - a city knows the life of art.
The first thing I noticed is how pervasive and diverse coffee houses are! They are not separated into plazas that people need to drive to, but distributed in residential districts, and in the walking distance. They are the neighbors of where we live. It is the place to distribute community information and exhibit works of local artists. Except for starbucks (which originated in Seattle), most of them are not part of massive chain stores. The coffee houses play an important role, as "third places", to strengthen the sense of community, facilitate social interactions as well as artistic and intellectural growth.
The second project is Seattle has marvelous views. Besides the standing out space needle that we can see from everywhere (with rainer mt. next to it),
but also the rivers, the sunset, and the rainer mt. from tophills.
There are also many beautiful bridges which I should take pictures and post next times.
Seattle is also a city where eco-friendly practices are well developed and deeply rooted in everyday practices. From the widely use and the convenience of public transportations, to the high awareness of recycling.
It is also a city enjoys high coverage of free wife, not just coffee houses, but also bus stops
There are still many things waiting for me to explore, but so far, I found after I came to Seattle I understand better about Don such as he takes coffee so seriously (with his own espresso machine at his office), is very aware of recycling, takes bus everyday, etc. There are no better cities than Seattle and Portland to do ubiquitous computing, and to explore technologies for heath, eco-friendliness and fitness!
The first thing I noticed is how pervasive and diverse coffee houses are! They are not separated into plazas that people need to drive to, but distributed in residential districts, and in the walking distance. They are the neighbors of where we live. It is the place to distribute community information and exhibit works of local artists. Except for starbucks (which originated in Seattle), most of them are not part of massive chain stores. The coffee houses play an important role, as "third places", to strengthen the sense of community, facilitate social interactions as well as artistic and intellectural growth.
The second project is Seattle has marvelous views. Besides the standing out space needle that we can see from everywhere (with rainer mt. next to it),
but also the rivers, the sunset, and the rainer mt. from tophills.
Seattle is also a city where eco-friendly practices are well developed and deeply rooted in everyday practices. From the widely use and the convenience of public transportations, to the high awareness of recycling.
It is also a city enjoys high coverage of free wife, not just coffee houses, but also bus stopsThere are still many things waiting for me to explore, but so far, I found after I came to Seattle I understand better about Don such as he takes coffee so seriously (with his own espresso machine at his office), is very aware of recycling, takes bus everyday, etc. There are no better cities than Seattle and Portland to do ubiquitous computing, and to explore technologies for heath, eco-friendliness and fitness!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Seattle's pike place market
The pike place market is probably one of the most famous attractions in Seattle. You probably have read it from some English textbooks or seen it from movies. It is not hard to find it. If you walk on Denny from Queen Anne to Downtown, when you see more and more people coming out or going in , that means you are probably very close to the market. It is a traditional place. It is a personal place. Crafts are handmade. Signs are hand written. Restaurants are family owned. Produces are sold by farmers. Fishmongers are entertaining. When they skillfully process the fish, fly it, and sing together, fishselling is turned into an art.
It is not easy to remain personal in such a industrialized and impersonal society today. For its survival, we need to thank this pig Rachel, a sculpture designed by a local artist, working as a piggy bank to collect donations and raise money for low income people and communiy service for the market.
It can be very easily spotted in popular areas around the city. This year, being both the Market’s centennial and the Chinese Year of the Golden Pig, there is also Pigs on Parade. What a fun idea!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Seattle
After more than 2 hours of delay, I finally arrived in Seattle around 1am this morning. My friend's apartment is very nice, heavily decorated with Ikea's furnitures and floral paintings, with bright red and orange here and there. There is a very wide big window occupying half of the wall directly facing the center of Seattle.
Sitting in the middle of the hillside gives the apartment a very good view. I was very impressed with the thick, layered, and wide spreading clouds covering the blue sky (certainly a contrast with the super clean sky in South California), which sets up a nice background for the space needle (one of the marks of Seattle) right in front of me. Doubtlessly, this is a perfect spot for me to watch fireworks on July 4th:-). The changing clouds is continually shaping the lighting of the city. The shade intersperses with the light, making the scene interesting and lovingly. As expected, occasionally, it rains. The funny thing is I feel like I can see the rain more easily than feel it. It doesn't bother me, but I can clearly see threads of rains in the sun light.
It was much more chilly as expected. After a super short walk, it forced me to get back to add a jacket and change my shoes. I started regretting that I didn't bring enough thick clothes.
Walking around revealed that it is a very nice neighborhood. I spotted several cute restaurants, including a Chinese and a Thai, which are my favorite. I also encountereed a very big grocery store in just a few blocks. Things are expensive there, but the quality seems to be pretty good. I also found many small independent coffee houses at the corners of streets, and more importantly, they all have free wifi access! Now I was relieved that I don't need to worry about how to spend some quality time in Seattle anymore:-).
One of the advantages of living in an urban area is the energy and the more pervasive coverage of wifi. At around noon, some energetic music from Seattle Center started shaking up the city, indicating there were some events going on. I felt I was somewhat involved although I had no idea what was going on. My wifi card detected a long list of access points, revealing some funny names, such as "loveU", and I could also tell that one of our neighbors is chinese based on his or her access point name:-). Of course, without any trouble, I got connected to the internet, with a very decent accessing speed.
Sitting in the middle of the hillside gives the apartment a very good view. I was very impressed with the thick, layered, and wide spreading clouds covering the blue sky (certainly a contrast with the super clean sky in South California), which sets up a nice background for the space needle (one of the marks of Seattle) right in front of me. Doubtlessly, this is a perfect spot for me to watch fireworks on July 4th:-). The changing clouds is continually shaping the lighting of the city. The shade intersperses with the light, making the scene interesting and lovingly. As expected, occasionally, it rains. The funny thing is I feel like I can see the rain more easily than feel it. It doesn't bother me, but I can clearly see threads of rains in the sun light.It was much more chilly as expected. After a super short walk, it forced me to get back to add a jacket and change my shoes. I started regretting that I didn't bring enough thick clothes.
Walking around revealed that it is a very nice neighborhood. I spotted several cute restaurants, including a Chinese and a Thai, which are my favorite. I also encountereed a very big grocery store in just a few blocks. Things are expensive there, but the quality seems to be pretty good. I also found many small independent coffee houses at the corners of streets, and more importantly, they all have free wifi access! Now I was relieved that I don't need to worry about how to spend some quality time in Seattle anymore:-).
One of the advantages of living in an urban area is the energy and the more pervasive coverage of wifi. At around noon, some energetic music from Seattle Center started shaking up the city, indicating there were some events going on. I felt I was somewhat involved although I had no idea what was going on. My wifi card detected a long list of access points, revealing some funny names, such as "loveU", and I could also tell that one of our neighbors is chinese based on his or her access point name:-). Of course, without any trouble, I got connected to the internet, with a very decent accessing speed.
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