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.