I mulled about this purchase for quite awhile. The K-5 is probably the best DSLR produced by Pentax to date, and it caved in the competition when was first released. It is a 2010 model though and part of me was desperately in love with the silver edition (why Pentax doesn’t make this absolutely gorgeous […]
Pineapple season (missing photo) was always something I looked forward to during the Nanjing days (most the few posts have been referencing times past…must be feeling nostalgic). Arriving by the dump-truck load, the pineapples would be piled into every nook and cranny of your local street fruit/vegetable merchant. A whole pineapple would set one back […]
Just when you thought I couldn’t become any more of a map geek, I go pull something like this. Openpistemap.org is another open source, wiki style mapping project out to usher the world of skiing into convenient online map format. It operates using OSM data, but adds a few more rendering options in the side […]
The Greenland Plaza has now become a bit of a skyline marker in Nanjing and is visible from most of the important areas within the city. I drop the GLP probably too often…but it is like my skyscraper baby – I watched the initial foundation excavation and was present for all the major moments in […]
Familiar spaces become very different after living in them them, then visiting them after a prolonged absence. Nanjing University campus is a good example. I lived just a block away from this campus for several years and walked through it or nearby it on a regular basis, drank beer in on its street curbs and […]
When I initially wrote my ‘proposal’ for my program’s Fudan exchange, I prominently included Nanjing as a potential observational site. This was chiefly because of my familiarity with the city, the area and a somewhat layman’s understanding of what the location was trying to achieve. My goals for revisiting included a deeper exploration of some […]
That was one of the wrapping ideas of architect Donald Chong pushed through during his guest presentation this morning, the notion being that an essential component to improving cities actually begins inside the home embracing the ideas of seasonality and local food markets instead of hoarding food stuffs in giant freezers, pantries and fridges. I […]
I knew that this forum was taking place in my old stomping grounds of Nanjing, but if I didn’t know the location…well the forum title “Harmonious Urbanization” provides all the information one needs to determine that this conference is hosted on the Mainland. I’ve been sitting at my desk for the past twenty minutes trying […]
Life in the Big Red without a passport is like life without arms or legs – you are consistently denied service, forced into a helpless infant like position in which you must rely upon many others for otherwise simple and menial tasks. For the record…yes I do have numerous copies of my passport (which is […]
It would appear that the Chinese government remains confident regarding the price and uninterrupted supply of oil…as well as very bullish about future airline passenger numbers. China drafted a long-term plan for development of air cargo, which will require the building of 97 new airports, consolidation of smaller airports and upgrading of certain key airports […]
Coffee ‘culture’ seems to be really taking off in Nanjing. This isn’t to say that it is a relatively new phenomenon as international coffee house brands have been in China (and Nanjing) for awhile.When I first arrived, Starbucks had a three store presence in Nanjing. The two outlets in Xinjiekou (Da Yang and the now […]
Some late night readings helped to fill in a few holes in the my question of the year…what is going on in these cities? Despite being surrounded in an uber-left wing environment during my time at UVic, I don’t hold very strong socialist tendencies. However, there are a number of items I feel should involve […]
Obama’s smiling face graced the pages of a number of local dailies on display in my local Suguo CVS this morning. I’ll admit that I only maintain a passive, layman following of US presidential politics. As a non-eligible voter my opinion amounts to squat and this probably influences the amount of time I dedicate to […]
I was debating whether or not to share this tidbit of inside information but have since decided that it is now post worthy. This change is probably not only because I find this particular item slightly amusing and maybe even a little pitiful also because I think it highlights how much information can be gathered […]
After several weeks of lecturing regarding the financial and time benefits of utilizing the Nanjing transit system, I managed to convince a friend to step on one of the buses….and the verdict is…”Ah, it wasn’t that bad!”Exactly. It never will cease to amaze me how few foreigners take advantage of this system and rely completely […]
This will be the first entry posted suing scribefire, a nifty Firefox plugin which allows direct postings from within Firefox – thus avoiding the somewhat annoying process of logging into my CMS to make an entry (one is aware of living in a “now” generation when the simple process of logging into a website is […]
The Olympic Torch (yup, the same one that caused all the trouble in Europe) moved it’s way throughout Nanjing this morning. It’s route took it about 5 minutes from my apartment, but I decided against attending festivities for a number of reasons. Mainly because I just have no interest in the Olympics and even less […]
There is a thread going on over at The Straight Dope asking the fairly straight forward question of “do you go to bars alone?” The verdict seems to be it is quite common among many. You can now add me to the category of ‘those who hang out AT the bar, IN the bar…alone”. In […]
The Park View Dingshan Hotel (丁山花园大酒店)is another Nanjing real estate anomaly and easily as puzzling as the Greenland Financial Center. An afore mentioned warning…the following is written by someone who hasn’t got a clue what he is talking about and is really just a bunch of mush observations backed up by hardly any evidence thrashed […]
Grass-roots earthquake relief efforts are well underway in Nanjing and out in full-force this weekend. I donated money on Wednesday and was asked again at my company on Thursday. That night I also unknowingly attended a benefit concert at a local bar. But this morning I encountered a rather unwanted situation around the Shanxi Lu […]
I walk past the 375 million dollar Greenland Financial Center development about three or four times a week and have been around since ground was first broken on this behemouth back in 2004. Flash-forward to 2008 and construction is zooming along with the first outer glass plates being added. I have somewhat of an obsession […]
This post most likely provides ample evidence that I was not swallowed by the earth or buried in rubble. Unfortunately, many other people have. Tens of thousands of people across southwest China remained buried beneath rubble on Tuesday as rescue workers struggled to reach areas cut off by a powerful earthquake that has left thousands […]