Pig Photo Op!

Out on a hike, we came across this pig.
Jaime took the photo, but I have since used it everywhere!

This is the Year of the Pig...
so share this lively little porker with all your friends!

You can see who got tagged on Facebook by clicking here or cut & paste this:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4742&l=ae907&id=601795676

States Visited...

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Visited Countries

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Facebook...

I have invited almost everyone I have ever known to join Facebook. Why?

Well, it is a nice way to keep in touch. It is better than just blogging, because there are so many updates about my friends, their photos, changes in relationships, and a lot more - all of this is wonderful!

Facebook doesn't require as much work on my part. I don't have to read so many blogs, or should I say try to read the blogs - xanga.com, blogspot.com, and a few others are not always visible here in China. I can never read xanga.com directly, there are few tricks to get through to it, but really it isn't fun, isn't easy, and doesn't always work. Blogspot.com comes and goes... right now it has gone. However, I am able to post, edit posts, and a few other things, I just can't see the blog the way you do.

Run Easy

Facebook has a "RBK-Go Run Easy" Group ... I joined, created a running club, and created a run on www.goruneasy.com. I hope you like it! (Of course you'll need to change the map style from "Map" to "Sat" or "Hyb.")

Maybe some of you would like to know your distances and invite others to run your routes. "Go Run Easy" uses a Google Maps application to give you distances anywhere in the world (permitted they have the map at that zoom level)... as long as you can run it, you should be able to map it, and you should be able to share it with others!

I am not running again yet, waiting a little while to let everything heal. I have been doing a lot of walking. Soon, I will begin walking with purpose, adding a little more running every week. Hopefully, I'll be back up to running some long distances soon, but I am not going to push it!

Jaime and I are looking for our next marathon.

http://www.goruneasy.com/RunEasy/#section=ViewRun.aspx%3FRouteId%3D6086

Marathon Musings

The Great Wall Marathon was the greatest physical challenge I have ever undertaken. My body said no more, but I had to finish the race.

At the beginning of training, Jeremy and I ran a lot together, but mostly, I trained alone. To have so many people running together, all so positive, so encouraging, this was amazing! (Except towards the end ... there were a few guys talking about death and torture - this didn't work well for me.) Throughout the race I had so much help (encouragement) that at times I was overwhelmed, vklempt, without words, and ready to burst forth in tears and laughter from shear exhaustion mixed with the excitement of so many people. There was Drew Fralick who got me through the Wall the first time, a Mexican man who shall remain nameless (don't know his name), then along came Peter the Dane from the ING Team - he must've run and walked with me for 10k, Mr. South African and Okey Army gal stationed in South Korea, and last was Lars Hoffman - he helped me get all the way to the finish line!

From the beginning of the race I started to feel a strange sensation in my lower left achilles, my knees were sore, my buttox was too tight, and I felt imenent doom. This is not a good way to start a marathon, especially the most difficult one this world has to offer.

With a little under 2k to go the legs cramped fiercely ... Lars Hoffman to the rescue! He was such a great encouragement, very nice guy (great kids, Hailey and Noel, and wife, Jill) ... and he wouldn't let me quit (not that I wanted to, but my body did). Then at 100m from the finish I was dry heaving so loud and so strong my stomach muscles cramped. I think I finished in 7:30.

Upon finishing, I received my Great Wall Marathon Medal and went directly for the First Aid. I got a saline IV along with some meds to make me relax. I was twiching, hyperventilating, and basically a complete wreck. I think it took me 20 to 30 minutes to come back to Earth. The rest of the day was spent hydrating, in fact I haven't really stopped. I still feel very crispy at times.

I am extremely thankful to Him for keeping my body healthy enough to finish and to not require immediate surgery... maybe one day I'll need orthoscopy on my knees, but it isn't today!

I learned a lot from my first marathon (and the toughest one I'll ever do). The list?

1. Wear shoes I have thoroughly broken-in
2. Even if I feel like throwing up, drink the nasty electrolytes and eat the energy gels
3. The Dr. (who ran a 2:20 marathon) said I need to do 3 - 30k training runs so my body knows what to do at the end of the race
4. Don't over train
5. Get the "magic" salt pills
6. Small goals for each section
7. Finishing is great! (Finishing faster is greater still!)

I might just ask my brother John to come over and run The Great Wall Marathon with me in 2008 (James in 2009)! I will train smarter and then who knows... maybe I'll pass the goats.

Running Great Wall Tomorrow!

Jaime and I are in a smokey internet cafe in PingGu, Beijing. We are 1 hour from The Great Wall, but I can't remember which gate we will go to...

I have tried to find it on Google Maps and other things, but to no avail.

I'll soon be back in Shiyan having finished this madness and will find it exactly and put it on My Google Maps!

Leaving for Beijing Tomorrow

I am needing to pack for our week long trip to Beijing. I have only partly begun - by partly I mean that I have taken out 5 things to take with me.

Our train departs at 5:30pm (arriving in Beijing at Noon:30 the next day, that is 19 hours) and the Lewis family will be sharing the same car, same immediate area - we will quickly breath each other's air. This will make the trip more interesting. We will have so many Chinese people staring at this large group of loud foreigners. The Lewis family has 3 teenage girls that like attention 90% of the time.

While on the train, I usually like to read, play Chinese Chess, study Mandarin (Chinese Language), and sleep. I don't know what will happen this go round, but I do plan to read, play chess, and study the language.

I have downloaded this book into my Pocket PC (PDA): The Revised & Expanded Answers Book ... I have already read most of it, very interesting ideas about Science supporting Biblical Creation. Oh, these guys are serious scientists! If you want some amazing ideas about the Big Bang Theory and the New Creationist Cosmology supported by "gravitational time dilation, black and white holes, event horizons and so on..." you should read Chapter 5.

Oh, I will have about 3 classes tomorrow... which means I will go to 2 of them and Brad, thank you Brad, will take care of the other one for me.

I'll try to come back to Shiyan in one piece, with my knees still moving, and blogging about the journey... maybe even putting a picture of the run on here!

Questions about Age of Earth?

Radio-Carbon Dating, is it reliable? Is the earth really billions of years old?

Maybe you have some curiousity about this and would like a perspective that sides with Creation according to Genesis. If so, try this:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/dating.asp

Guns, Germs, and Steel

If you haven't read Guns, Germs, and Steal, please do. For me it is just the very beginning that is a little off. I will find some research to show what I think is more likely and then I'll write my own book.

Here is the beginning of my book: "Have you ever thought about the oldest living trees on the planet? Bristlecone Pine Trees in Great Basin National Park are known to be close to 5,000 years old... and one that is still standing but dead should give a record of the previous 5,000 years... this makes for 10,000 years of history. What is the oldest extent language? Chinese. How old is it? Nearly 5,000 years old. What might be a common historical activity for the death of one tree, the birth of another, and the birth of the Chinese language?"

Back to Guns, Germs, and Steal - which is about why and how we earthlings have developed such diverse cultures from hunter-gatherers to industrialized nations... why did one continent develop more quickly than another? How was it that one culture can overtake another? What is the origin of these empires of today?

I like the game Settlers of Catan because it shows the answers to these questions in a small way, especially the Cities and Knights of Catan.

I haven't finished reading the book, but I have some questions I hope he will address:

1. Why does one culture often set the pace for the world?
2. Technology has been such a great divide, especially the internet age... What will be the next great leap forward and how will that separate or combine cultures?
3. How can we keep ancient cultures alive, while learning and adapting to the cultures we learn?
   

Maybe I'll post more questions later.

Money is Relative

I have been thinking about the post on the Rich List... I should mention that our China Salaries are almost the same numerically in Yuan/RMB as they were in Dollars.

What am I trying to say? If you got paid 20,000USD a year in the States, then you could enjoy life at 20,000RMB. This is something funny that I have noticed here... does this have anything to do with the conversion ratio? Or is this something of a normalcy in developing countries?

Also, we have noticed that the money you can make from teaching English in a country will usually more than do for living in that society. However if you begin to travel more frequently to developed countries you will have little or no money.

Maybe I'll run The Great Wall Marathon

I am a little frustrated with my body... specifically my knees. I have been pretty healthy while here in China, but since April 26 I have had some troubles with my knees. On that day I ran about 16 miles, 5 to 6 of which where on the stairs at Tai He Hospital and the rest was running across town and back.

Maybe they (my knees) have reason to be angry with me, but now they should be happy! I am seeing the great and wonderful Doctors of Tai He Hospital, two of which are German Doctors from Hamburg. They are here for two months. Today I got my knees wrapped with some Traditional Chinese Medicines. I will have this done everyday until I leave for Beijing (Tuesday May 15). The Doctors were all so nice! They didn't make me pay for much of the help they gave and they want me to come back again.

I also so the Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine for a full health review. They are asking me to drink some bitter herbs, take some pills to make me less "regular", and then some other pills for something else... the pills are all traditional medicines so I am not concerned in the least. It is all natural and should help to heal my digestive tract, which is then supposed to allow the rest of my body to heal itself.

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to run the Great Wall Marathon, but now the doctors are saying it is possible, but there will be pain and some swelling. Let's so how quickly they will be able to heal my knees - they have ten days! Then I will destroy them on the Great Wall Marathon and they will have to heal them again... so I hope to run the race... I'll let you know what happens.

Tall Man in Short World

Did you notice all the fun new sidebar activities? ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

When I first arrived in Shiyan there were many signs that I was living in a world of short people. I happen to be 1.9 meters (6'3") tall. Ducking is required every time I enter the kitchen in our home and depending on the shoes I wear every other door in the house too!

When walking on the street I must pay attention to the trees and signage. Most trees seem to be trimmed somewhere between 5'10" and 6'. The signs all hang at roughly the same height.

Early in the Fall Semester on our Yunyang Medical College's campus, I hit my head on some signs and suggested to President Zhang jokingly, but with a serious tone, that all the signs, doorways, and trees should be no lower than 2 meters! The next day I noticed the signs that I walk past the most were moved up to that height!

They haven't changed the height of the doorways yet. I'm not holding out for it either.

Another interesting thing, most shops here have metal roll down doors, like the ones you see in rough neighborhoods to protect the entire shop from vandals. Of course, this is not a rough neighborhood, but they really like to lock things up! When they open the shop for business they roll up the door to a typical Chinese height of 5'8" to 5'10", which means I often need to duck going into many businesses! I feel like Yao Ming or Shaq.

When we go out into the countryside, all the doorways are sure to be low. But if you really want to talk about a low ceiling, just visit the outhouse. Almost all of the ceilings are under 5'6"! Then there is the wonderful odor of the fertilizer-to-be, open cesspool visible through the floor's "toilet" - a large hole in the floor!

Did you notice all the fun new sidebar activities? ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

How rich are you?

This is a cool site! http://www.globalrichlist.com/

It shows just where you are in terms of the world's richest and poorest people. Where do you think you are? Are you in the top 25% or the top 5%?

Even with just my income in China (about $5,000 per year), I am the 863,571,764 richest person in the world! I am in the TOP 14.39% richest people in the world! Now isn't that just crazy!

IF you are an average American, you make more than $35,000 per year and are richer than the 277,391,305 richest person in the world! You are somewhere above 4.62% richest people in the world!

IF you are above average and you make $50,000 per year, then you are the 59,029,289 richest person in the world! You're in the TOP 0.98% richest people in the world!

Isn't that just amazing! And often we think we are just poor, helpless, struggling souls doing our best to get by in this world.

www.answers.com is my friend!

I met a man on a sleeper bus going from Haikou to Nanning. He is from Switzerland, if memory serves me right. He is a middle aged business man who speaks German, English, and now Chinese (and maybe another language?). He is studying Chinese in Chengdu. Anyway, he noticed me working on Chinese flashcards and mentioned his website and a learning theory. His website is www.chinglish-online.com.

I have begun to get serious about learning Chinese and remembered his website. I went to his site and poked around, finding the learning theory by Sebastian Leitner and wanting to learn more I went to answers.com. This is what I found:
***
Sebastian Leitner (1919-1989) was a German commentator and science popularizer.

As a student in Vienna, he was briefly kept in custody by the Nazis in 1938 because of his opposition against the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany. Later he moved to Frankfurt to study law, but he was recruited by the Wehrmacht in 1942. After spending several years in a Soviet prison, he returned to Germany in 1949 and started a career as a commentator.

At first, he focused on legal and sociological topics, but later he took medical and psychology-related subjects as his theme. His book So lernt man lernen (How to learn to learn), a practical manual on the psychology of learning, became a bestseller. In this often-cited book he described his Leitner System (see flashcard) for learning by spaced repetition.

***
I am curious. I follow the links: flashcard and spaced repetition. Spaced repetition leads me to Pimsleur language courses and I am then asking, "What is a constructed language and how good is Pimsleur*?" So I follow the constructed language link and find the following in the entry, which you should really read in full, because it is funny:

"Thus, a "better" language should allow the speaker to reach some elevated level of intelligence, or to encompass more diverse points of view. A constructed language could also by this hypothesis be used to restrict thought, as in George Orwell's Newspeak."

Then, I follow the "Newspeak" entry, because I like George Orwell and remember this is something important. People like to use this term a lot in political circles.

Then I came across this: Two plus two make five - some nice quotes:

• "I admit that two times two makes four is an excellent thing, but if we are to give everything its due, two times two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing too."
• ThinkGeek produces a popular t-shirt that says "2+2=5 for extremely large values of 2" as a parody on the concept of mathematical approximation.
• "2 + 2 = 5, for sufficiently large values of 2" is a reminder about the way estimation errors compound in numerical calculations. One example is when rounding is directly involved: 2.4 is rounded down to 2 ("a large value of 2"), while 2.4 + 2.4 (which is equal to 4.8) is rounded up to 5.
  

Which led to this: Buzzword and Machiavelli and then to comic strip at the top of this entry: The original Dilbert cartoon showing "Buzzword Bingo" Feb 22, 1994!

"One documented buzzword bingo occurred when Al Gore, then the Vice President of the United States known for his liberal use of buzzwords hyping technology, spoke at MIT's 1996 graduation. Hackers had distributed bingo cards containing buzzwords to the graduating class." Click here to see the bingo card and instructions.

*How many words do you need to read Shakespeare's Macbeth? http://www.cateeslanguageworld.com/pimsleur/100words.php