Status Update

It has been a nice Saturday morning here in China.

I have been happy to see that the air quality is very good... at least it looks good.  The sky is blue and you can see clouds.  You know I never saw any blue in the sky when I was in Wuxi.  I suspect that being close to the sea has something to do with it.  There is somewhere for the bad air to go.  It gets blown away.

There's a spot in Southern California that's similar to Wuxi in that respect.  I don't remember what they call it, but there's an area between the hills, quite developed, and the smog gets trapped between the hills and you can hardly see!  The sea breezes can't get in to blow the smog away.  So, sometimes we would have a lovely day in Laguna Beach, but my colleagues in this area between the hills wouldn't.

This principle applies in organizations too.  Not regarding air pollution, but regarding complaints... legitimate or not.  If there is no outlet, no means of making a complaint and being heard, then... well, like smog between the hills, it builds up and gets toxic. 

You all can apply that little insight however you see fit.

I got everything done this morning that I wanted to.  By 8:30 I'd done two loads of laundry (folded and put away), I cleaned the bathroom, swept and mopped my floor, fed the insects, watered the plants, made my bed, did some reading, and made toast in my new toaster oven.  Overall not a bad start to the day. 

Since then I've marked some papers.  I did some on-line stuff for one of my classes.  And I've generally looked for excuses to stay in and be a slug. 

Yeah, so that's the report.