If a blog has no new posts, but nobody reads it anyway, does it make a sound? Er, um, something like that. I've been AWOL for a while. Just one of those weeks. Or a couple of them actually. That doesn't mean that there hasn't been a lot of blog-worthy stuff rattling around my little brain (ok, I admit that "blog-worthy" isn't a very high bar). Maybe as the current crush of odd-hour conference calls with Asia calms down, you may get to read some of them.
A definite theme has been the odd juxtaposition of different cultures and values. Just a few... a day at the NC State Fair (no, we did NOT try the fried Coke, fried Twinkees, or fried anything else); gleaning sweet potatos to feed the local hungry; a somewhat contentious few meetings with my Beijing colleagues at work, based on differing expectations, ways of working, and interest in sticking one's neck out; some wonderful small-group discussions about parenting... vs the actual act of parenting. Sigh. I fall so far short of the goal.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Friday, October 06, 2006
The Quiet Voice in the Darkness
The best quote of the day was the first thing I heard... a quiet, even timid voice coming from our little guy... "Mommy Daddy, when is it going to be morning?"
It was 7:15 and time for the family to get moving, but it was still pretty dark as our string of beautiful fall days was interrupted by a cool front bringing in some rain falling from thick, low clouds. Just another sign that the end of daylight savings time is near. Sigh. If it wasn't for hurricanes, I'd wish that Septembers would last forever.
It was 7:15 and time for the family to get moving, but it was still pretty dark as our string of beautiful fall days was interrupted by a cool front bringing in some rain falling from thick, low clouds. Just another sign that the end of daylight savings time is near. Sigh. If it wasn't for hurricanes, I'd wish that Septembers would last forever.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
The Bigger World, Part I
I've been thinking a lot about "emerging markets" lately. At least that's what we call it at work. At church, we use other, less capitalist-minded terms. But I've been thinking about it as it relates to both my work and my faith.
On the work side, one of the interesting things that I have been thinking about started with conversations from our dear Kenyan friends Kyama and Wambui, who lived here with us for a year in 2004-05. I learned much from them, but one of the lessons which came early on related to our disposition in America to do things ourselves. This is partially due to our strongly-ingrained independence, but is also a matter of economics; its very expensive to hire someone to do many things that you can do yourself (even if, in my case, it often means doing it twice!) In Kenya (and, I've learned, in many other parts of the developing world), there is plentiful cheap labor, so it doesn't make sense for most middle-class folks to do home maintenance themself.
This has gotten me to thinking about a driving force in a lot of the innovation we have here - much of it is about saving labor. People are expensive, so we do lots of things to cut down on the amount of time we have to pay someone to do something. For example, taking a phone call on a toll-free help line is expensive - averaging $25-50 a pop, for even a short call. Hence, many organizations try to drive as much as possible to the web. The guy changing the lightbulbs in your office building is much more expensive than the florescent tubes, so rather than wait for each light to burn out to fix them, they go through and replace all the bulbs in a given area at the same time. Self-checkout lanes - ugh! There are many more examples.
But what happens when labor is cheap and plentiful? How does that impact the macro-economics of a country? What drives innovation there? I've also wondered how economies structure themselves when labor is cheap but materials cost nearly as much as they do here. I suppose some non-trival amount of the cost of many items we purchase is related to the cost of transportation and the associated labor selling it to me, but how does that ripple thru an economy and what's the impact of this on buying power... and selling power.
Maybe I need to go get a PhD in Economics. Or not. Like my house needs another degree.
On the work side, one of the interesting things that I have been thinking about started with conversations from our dear Kenyan friends Kyama and Wambui, who lived here with us for a year in 2004-05. I learned much from them, but one of the lessons which came early on related to our disposition in America to do things ourselves. This is partially due to our strongly-ingrained independence, but is also a matter of economics; its very expensive to hire someone to do many things that you can do yourself (even if, in my case, it often means doing it twice!) In Kenya (and, I've learned, in many other parts of the developing world), there is plentiful cheap labor, so it doesn't make sense for most middle-class folks to do home maintenance themself.
This has gotten me to thinking about a driving force in a lot of the innovation we have here - much of it is about saving labor. People are expensive, so we do lots of things to cut down on the amount of time we have to pay someone to do something. For example, taking a phone call on a toll-free help line is expensive - averaging $25-50 a pop, for even a short call. Hence, many organizations try to drive as much as possible to the web. The guy changing the lightbulbs in your office building is much more expensive than the florescent tubes, so rather than wait for each light to burn out to fix them, they go through and replace all the bulbs in a given area at the same time. Self-checkout lanes - ugh! There are many more examples.
But what happens when labor is cheap and plentiful? How does that impact the macro-economics of a country? What drives innovation there? I've also wondered how economies structure themselves when labor is cheap but materials cost nearly as much as they do here. I suppose some non-trival amount of the cost of many items we purchase is related to the cost of transportation and the associated labor selling it to me, but how does that ripple thru an economy and what's the impact of this on buying power... and selling power.
Maybe I need to go get a PhD in Economics. Or not. Like my house needs another degree.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Relief
Its a well-worn cliche about a well-worn cliche. But given my pathetic ability to talk to strangers and acquaintances, I'm as guilty of using it as the next guy. I'm talking about talking about the weather.
But its Autumn in NC, so humor me. After the long steamy summer, the weather man has to go back to work. Gone are the 5-day forecasts showing each day with a high of 92, low of 72 and a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. And our thermometer has been reintroduced to the 60s... and even the 50s!
There's lots I like about these days, but I especially cherish the perfectly clear blue skies (sorry Carolinians, its Kentucky blue, not Carolina or, gasp, Dook blue) and the return of Sunsets. Around here, the sun doesn't actually set in the summer. No, NC is not part land of the midnight sun. And yes, it does actually get dark in the summer. Its just that the sun merely fades into the haze sometime in the late summer afternoon. But in the fall, the humidity drops and sun actually goes back to actually meeting the horizon... often in brilliant blazes of orange and pink streaking clouds. And the silleotte of trees against the darkening skies, and the coolness of the evening air. Aaaah.
Open your window tonight.
But its Autumn in NC, so humor me. After the long steamy summer, the weather man has to go back to work. Gone are the 5-day forecasts showing each day with a high of 92, low of 72 and a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. And our thermometer has been reintroduced to the 60s... and even the 50s!
There's lots I like about these days, but I especially cherish the perfectly clear blue skies (sorry Carolinians, its Kentucky blue, not Carolina or, gasp, Dook blue) and the return of Sunsets. Around here, the sun doesn't actually set in the summer. No, NC is not part land of the midnight sun. And yes, it does actually get dark in the summer. Its just that the sun merely fades into the haze sometime in the late summer afternoon. But in the fall, the humidity drops and sun actually goes back to actually meeting the horizon... often in brilliant blazes of orange and pink streaking clouds. And the silleotte of trees against the darkening skies, and the coolness of the evening air. Aaaah.
Open your window tonight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)