Tom's Journey

Finally I came back from Mexico City this morning, the flight was horrible, that I don't think I would take another 'transfer flight' any more, I had to transfer at LA, picking my luggage out, and go through custom, and waiting in line for 40 minutes to re-check-in, and walk a good mile or two to the terminal for the next flight, what I thought could be a good 2-hour rest turned out to be a quite a nightmare, I almost felt I would miss my flight at one point.

But all in the end, I am finally back, it's good to see home again, and was especially comforting hearing that San Francisco has been raining for a whole week, and today be able to see the bright sun and be able to play a little badminton in the morning.

I am kind of tired, and certainly lacked sleep, but be able to live/work in the environment you are familiar is very rewarding. That's called 'Home'.

Buffet breakfast at the hotel.

This absolutely the first impression, since I didn't go out last night, thank to all the kindly warnings. Breakfast consists of a selection of 3-4 fruits, 3-4 types of cereals, 3 different yogarts, milk, orange juice, my favorite grapefruit juice, and sometimes watermelon juice, then lots of typical Mexican food, nachos, scambled eggs, breads, of course.

Overall, I'd have to give it A+, for it's beyond the 'continental breakfast' I had in the US.

On my trip to Mexico City, before I went, I got quite a good number of warnings. I understand they were for my own good, but at this point, I was like a blank paper, it shows whatever people draw on it. One story was the actually from Mexican co-worker, whose spanish-speaking sister had hotel called Taxi for them, and later was robbed under gun point, and suspected Police was involved. Man, what can you do better than that? She speaks Spanish, and didn't just call a taxi on the street, and I am sure it's not the 'green beetle' that everyone warned me about.

It's finally announced that I will be moving to the DBA group within the same company.

Hmm, really had a mixed feeling about it, I pushed for it, so there is definitely some values to it, this means I will be able to pursue (at least that's the hope) the data warehouse technology I have been doing, more formally, and more effectively. It's certainly good for me, good for the DBA group, and good for the company.

But that could also mean that I will probably have less time in the weekends, as I am going to take on-call duties, and maybe fewer sleeps in general, due to the on-call nature.

We shall see, if you guys are seeing less of me, blame this!

昨晚看了CBS的《the Amazing Race》, 刚好这一站是在上海。每组必须以最快的速度到预先设定的站取得下一站的提示，其中包括扛几百块砖，在几十层的大楼上擦玻璃，等等。时间是要件，能否找到出租车是四两拨千斤的一环。

没有一个对会说中文，所以以什么态度叫出租车就很神奇地成为了一个考验。每个组都遇到了不同的挑战，但是Adam和Rebecca不知是因为Adam的小辫子太奇特，还是叫车的样子太凶，居然有很多出租车看着大把的钱而不挣，Adam越急就越凶，越凶就越没人拉，最终Adam和Rebecca得了最后一名，险些被淘汰。

弄 得Adam绝对的一头雾水，根本象不明白为什么有人有钱不挣，从美国人的角度（不管是资本主义角度、还是职业道德角度），这是不可理解的，也是事先没想 到的。在金钱至上的社会里，任何东西都有其价格，也就都是商品，即使人的爱情和廉耻，还记得"Indecent Proposal"吗？

当什么东西忽然不成为商品了，没有价格了的时候，我们管它叫什么呢？

我说：那叫‘牛’。