So wife is here now with me. We lived together for about 9 months in Shanghai before, together with my parents. And we are here alone, in a city far far away (from Shanghai). So I guess that's a new chapter in our lives, especially for her. I've been for over 10 years and more or less consider the SF Bay Area home.

She jumped right into cooking, which was amazing to me, and I really appreciate her efforts. We've been to Ranch99, Safeway, and Costco, since she landed 2 days ago...As a result, though, I have a lot of cleaning and dishwashing to do, even with a daily run of the dishwasher.

Work is challenging as usual, but I like the fact that I don't have to be in the office every day. Tomorrow (Wed) will be pretty loaded, though, with internal review calls, and client meetings from morning to evening.

I almost forgot it was Valentine's Day yesterday. Feb 14th, 2010, coincided with the Chinese Lunar New Year and buried in the "Kong Hey Fat Choy" calls. In addition, it fell on a Sunday followed by President's Day (3rd Monday in Feb.), which was, surprisingly, a holiday for both my current employer and my main client, both in the IT industry. I thought only folks in the public sector and the financial industry would get that day off. Last but not least, my wife is in a different city far far away from me. So I didn't have to worry about the V-day rituals. Well, I did have some chocolate truffles sent to her in Shanghai around a week ago, but I didn't have to shell out anything for a "romantic dinner." Instead I tried to relax, and watched Narnia, Prince Caspian on DVD at home.

The Bull Temple. Supposedly this Bull was the vehicle for Shiva. The temple is quite small, too small for the huge Bull inside of it.









A scooter and a horse carriage.















I interrupted this fellow's lunch when I was walking back to my hotel. It gave me a mysterious stare, and slowly wandered off. I suppose this is a bull. There are many more on the road that I saw during the rest of my stay.












Pretty messy and dirty streets. My driver has been driving on the streets of India for over 30 years and knows all the short cuts.

so I'm finally in India...Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, bored to death (as my boss predicted, unless I know many people here, which I don't). I'm staying at a big hotel suite with all the amenities including a jacuzzi and steam sauna, but the moment I step out of it, there is mess and chaos everywhere. This place is like Shanghai 20 years ago.

Yesterday I arrived in the morning, about 6 hours late (btw I was impressed with the Emirates' on-flight equipment, and the Dubai airport in general). A company car and driver picked me up and even gave me a 3 hour city tour, which culminated in a shopping session at the "central government run pashmere and silk store" that basically cost me some dollars that will hopefully please my wife and mom. Btw this has Suzhou's Silk Research Institute written all over it...

Knowing that people shouldn't have to work on Sunday, I told the driver to leave me alone for today, Sunday (he's a Christian and goes to church on Sundays, one of the minorities in India, about a quarter of the population). After breakfast in my room (again some spicy Southern Indian food, partly neutralized by plain yogurt and freshly squeezed fruit drinks), I decided to venture out on foot. The result is, in a nutshell, that after 30 minutes in total, I've exhausted all 4 directions from the street intersection, walking no more than 100 meters in each. I saw stray dogs, a well maintained park, a KFC with a Pizzahut upstairs, metro train track construction, and a bull wandering around, slowly. To bad I didn't bring my camera cable with me, or I would have uploaded the photos here. Now I have to wait till I get home.

More to come later...

I moved back to the Bay Area last Sunday, and started my new job the next day. My boss has been nice and asked me to take it slow, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that he really wants me to take over a lot of the stuff he's been having to do with this account that is now mine to own. It's in a way exciting for me, as I own the P&L. Let's see if I can deliver against the target. Might not be easy, as I'm new to my employer and to this account at the same time, and on top of that I have moved across the Pacific and am surrounded by boxes in my place...

Well, I came back married. But my wife won't be able to join me until after the Chinese New Year, probably in early March. She's got her commitments to her employer that she's keeping, and I respect that. I just don't want us to be apart for too long, after all we just got married less than a year ago. I wanted to tell her that I miss her here, but I know this site is blocked by the Great Chinese Firewall.

Now that I'm alone again I start to appreciate my life in Shanghai, where I didn't have to worry about any housework or food at all. But the weather is nice here, and the McDonald's is just across the street, where I got myself a breakfast today.

Jetlag is still bothering me, and next week I'll need to start really taking charge of the account.

I'm back in the Bay Area this week on vacation, an overdue one I would say. Working in Greater China during the last 9 months or so has been interesting, but it has also taken off about 15 lb from me. A lot of stress. I'm not sure if it was due to the global economic slowdown, or the Chinese culture. Maybe both. The team I manage has hit its quota in all 3 quarters since I started, but I don't want anybody to be killed over work (obviously).

Since I landed yesterday morning, I have been able to get a few things sorted out, like reinstating my auto insurance, getting my American Express Costco rebate coupon electronically applied, and applying for another Chinese visa. Talking about the Chinese visa, it now takes 6 working days instead of 4, so I will get it barely before I leave for Shanghai again.

I also signed a new property management with my agent, as my current tenants have recently taken advantage of the housing slump and closed escrow on a house in the same town. My agent said the rental market has cooled a bit recently, probably because more people can afford to buy now.

Tomorrow morning I'll be heading over to Vegas to join my wife, and to catch up with some Texas Hold'em. A few buddies of mine will be there as well. I'm looking forward to it (and to hitting some gigantic jackpot thereby achieving financial security.)

China has been extremely sensitive towards the swine flu (H1N1 as it's now referred to as). I wouldn't be surprised if I were required to be quarantined when I land in PVG in about a week. We'll see. It'll be the last month in the current quarter for us, not the best time to be out of pocket for 7 days...

Mainly to spend more time with my girlfriend, I took a job based in Shanghai, China, starting August. I expect my stay there to be around one year. In the meantime, because I was told that blogspot.com may be blocked from Mainland China, I'll switch to http://bpm4u.blog.tianya.cn/ for the time being.

For the past few weeks, dollar has rallied and commodities have been under pressure. I don't know whether this is a trend, especially when the US housing market is still in a terrible situation. When ommodities price ease, so does inflation pressure, and the Fed will have less incentive to up rates, which is USD negative. I'm currently long on EUR/USD.

My stock portfolio now contains CVTX, MO, HAL, OI, BP, C, SWN, SGP, PEP, MCD, HGM, EPD, WM, BE, FNM, and ChalCo. FNM may be in dire situation, which is also USD negative. PEP is more of a hedge on lower energy prices. RTN and MOT were closed when the underlying calls got assigned, turning a profit.