Inspired by Tony Haile’s “2010 in Books,” I thought I’d take a look through my Amazon Kindle purchase history and put together a short post on the books that I read in 2011. I found the retrospective useful, and hopefully my comments and recommendations are useful to others as well.
This year, I was lucky enough to have Findings to organize all of my Kindle highlights. Where available, I’ll include the link so you can skim through my favorite moments from each book.
Incredibly moving episode this past Sunday portraying the assassination of JFK.
The show is successful in illuminating the paradox of American democratic capitalism, as the murder of a culturally significant political figure drives a wedge into the daily struggle for upward mobility. Meanwhile, allusions throughout the season to the violence in Vietnam (bloody foot, burning monk, Greg joining the army) come to an abrupt culmination as we watch Ruby murder Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV (and then in slow motion). The Draper marriage dissolves as JFK is buried, and guests force themselves to attend the marriage of a couple they hardly know, nobody really sure even where to sit. Great television.
Day 2 – Beijing
Yesterday was Great Wall day. We awoke at 6:30am, and headed downstairs to find a taxi to take us to the Simatai section of the great wall. After a short negotiation we got the driver to a reasonable price and began our journey. Using my faithful iPhone translation app, I was able to ask our driver what his name was: Mister Lee.
Mister Lee was more artist than driver, and as we jammed out to Kenny G for the entire journey (the best of album, twice over), we feared on multiple occasions that that car ride would be our last. Passing three trucks at once is no big deal, especially when you compare it to passing three trucks at once while going around a left turn on a two lane street. There was one moment during Kenny G’s cover of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” that we were sure Mister Lee had run out of luck, but with a graceful flick of the wheel we avoided the oncoming jersey barrier and slipped in front of the truck to our right. Mister Lee got us to the wall alive (he pointed and exclaimed “wall” as it appeared over the horizon), and we began our ascent.
The Simatai section of the Wall is more difficult to get to than the popular Badaling section, but it has a much smaller tourist crowd. It is also more ‘authentic’ than the Badaling section, which is mostly reconstructed and, we are told, more Disney World-y. We ran into a group of Australians who we traveled with throughout the day (one of them had done it before). The 5 mile hike was challenging, but utterly astounding. The day at the Great Wall was alone worth the plane ticket. I took about 350 pictures and will be sure to upload them as soon as I get home.
After the 4-5 hour hike we joined our Australian friends for lunch and stuffed our faces. Mister Lee was waiting for us in the parking lot and was a little peeved that we had taken so long. He more than made up for that time on the way home, while treating us to another round of Kenny G.
When we returned to Beijing we spent a few hours recovering from the hike, then headed out to the famous Beijing Night Market, right outside our hotel. Cooper made a point to seek out some Fried Scorpion, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I had a teeny leg, which was more than enough to quench my appetite for Scorpion. Continuing our walk in the market, we were surprised to hear one of the workers yell “PENIS!” in our direction. Yes, that’s right, there was penis for sale. Sheep’s penis.
Cooper said he’d try it if I paid (around $7), and I gladly obliged. The penis took a few minutes to fry, and it came out looking delicious. Cooper dove right in, and the video I took of the experience will speak louder than anything I could write.
I’ll say two things: Cooper eating penis has given us way more than enough jokes to last us the rest of the trip, and the guy whose job it is to yell “PENIS!” has the best job in the world. Post-penis we both tried Bird’s Nest, and Cooper rounded out the experience with some shark meat. We avoided the dog.
Today we saw the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. Both very cool sights, both a bit too crowded for our taste. Still, some really beautiful sites. Tonight we are having Peking Duck at a famous little hole-in-the-wall and are very exciting. I’ll have a full report tomorrow, though I’m sure unless Cooper gets some more dick in him he won’t be satisfied.
Day 0 – Beijing:
I arrived at Beijing Airport around 2pm Beijing time, 13.5 hours after taking off in Newark around 12:30pm EST. I watched a rousing 5 movies on the flight, with 0 hours of shut-eye. After meeting up with Cooper outside immigration we left the airport for our hotel in central Beijing. Our first exchange with a Chinese person was in the taxi where we tried our best to communicate the name of the hotel, but with little success. Only after speaking to his English speaking friend? colleague? on the phone were we finally able to locate the hotel, with a promise from the “friend” that if it was not the right hotel, we could try another one. Luckily, we found it on the first try and because I didn’t know how to communicate our victory I thought it only appropriate to use the universal language of applause.
In the remaining hours of daylight (and with whatever energy I could muster after not sleeping for 24 hours), we were able to check out Tiananmen square, and the entrance to the Forbidden City with Chairman Mao’s watchful gaze looming over us. Starving, we wandered into a restaurant that appeared clean and comfortable. Though the waitress appeared to be speaking rapid chinese, forming complicated sentences to our befuddlement, it’s probably the case that she was slowing articulating “HELLO, WHAT DO YOU WANT?”. We did our best to point to items on the menu (something we’ve become very accustomed to), and said thank you as much as possible. Cooper’s food arrived first and he began eating. It wasn’t until the second dish arrived about 5 minutes later that we realized he had been eating my dish all along. At least the waitresses were laughing. Meal #1: success.
Day 1: Having passed out at 8:30pm the night before, I awoke easily around 6am ready to go. We walked back to Tiananmen square and I got a sweet Chairman Mao wrist watch. At each second he salutes. I bargained down from 150 Yuan to 50 Yuan (approx $7) – I just hope it continues to work long enough to show people at home. At opening time, we walked right under Mao and into the Forbidden City. The City covers 700,000 square meters and is comprised of over 900 rooms. The Forbidden City is a bit of a misnomer since at peak hours it makes Times Square look like Main Street Hyannis. We made the right call going early, and we even had some more obscure corners of the City to ourselves for a few moments. It was a truly magnificent site, and apart from the throngs of tourists we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves exploring blindly.
After about 4 hours of exploring we took a cab to an area around the lakes to the north of the Forbidden City (Hou Hai) for some lunch. While waiting for lunch we ran into twin sisters from Minnesota who joined us for the meal. They had been in China for four weeks and one of them spoke decent Chinese. We hung out for a bit post-lunch and we were lucky enough to get some great recommendations from them. I also learned how to say I have no penis: Mei Yo Gigi.
Leaving the restaurant I accidentally dropped the Chairman Mao watch on the ground. When I exclaimed “Oh no Chairman Mao!” a Chinese worker next to me laughed and mimicked “Oh no Chairman Mao! ha ha ha.” My first Chinese friend – then he asked me to buy something.
After parting ways we headed to Jing Shan Park, which overlooks the Forbidden City. For some reason the park was full of singing groups. Group sizes ranged from 4 people to 40 people. The voices of the larger groups echoed throughout the entire park, which made for a surreal climb to the top. As we reached the main Pagoda, we were struck again with the magnificence of the Forbidden City, only this time from a different angle. I’m eager to get these pictures up on Flickr, and will do so as soon as I get back to the States. That’s all for now folks. Hou Hai and the Night Market for dinner tonight, then an early morning tomorrow as we cab it out to the Simatai section of the Great Wall (of China) for a full day of hiking.
Another insightful post on Merlin Mann’s www.43folders.com. “Security” is an issue that’s been on my mind lately, as I contemplate career decisions. It’s interesting how challenges in my real life seem to be echoed in the posts of the bloggers I follow. A sign of the times?
Excerpts from Re-Potting with Resources: What Would You Make?
“If, tomorrow morning, you had 60% of the time and resources you needed to start making anything you wanted, what would it be? And, what would you do first?
It’s a wildly disarming question, especially when you don’t know it’s coming. Because it makes you realize how much you may view life as a slog toward a tomorrow that’s pretty much identical to today and yesterday and the week before. And, certainly, there’s nothing wrong with security, dependability, and providing continuity to yourself and your family. It’s what adults need.
But, as most of us discover — especially at the beginning of that blood-curdling recession — security is an illusion. It’s a heuristic we draw from observing the coincidence of things not going badly for a while at a stretch. And, that’s great. While it lasts. But, it’s definitely an illusion.”
Yesterday I was in a FedEx Kinkos around closing time. I had a certain ‘pay it forward’ moment that I’d like to share.
I was the only customer in the store except for a young woman standing behind me. As I was closing my package, the woman behind me asked if there was any bubble wrap she could use, at which point the FedEx rep pointed to the shelf. She replied with a ‘no thank you’ as she didn’t want to spend the money on the bubble wrap. A few minutes before it had occurred to me to buy bubble wrap but because I didn’t think I needed a full package of it I decided not to. Seeing an opportunity to spend my company’s money and make two lives easier, I purchased the bubble wrap and split it with her. She was grateful, said thank you, and I left.
Moments later, about halfway down the block, I hear running footsteps and someone calling out behind me. I had left my credit card at the desk, and the woman had run after me to deliver it.
If you have never read Irving Wladawsky-Berger’s blog, take a few minutes to browse some of the most recent entries. I’m always surprised that more people do not follow his posts.
Irving Wladawsky-Berger worked at IBM for 37 years, and any attempt to repeat his credentials here might spill over onto a second page. He posts every few days, but does so with care and depth. Topics range from green energy technology to cloud computing to politics and economics always with a big picture in mind (as if those issues could get any bigger). If you treat yourself to just one new blog subscription this holiday season, make it Wladawsky-Berger’s.
Going to school in Middletown, CT I was lucky enough to be within 30 miles of two of the “best burgers” in the country: Ted’s World Famous Steamed Cheeseburgers, and Louis’ Lunch (legend has it this is where the cheesburger was invented – but don’t ask for catsup).
In my first few months in New York City I’ve been working to replace these staples of my diet with the best New York has to offer. After reviewing many best of lists, I think I’ve tried a few of the best, and would now like to offer something of a review for future burgerers.
The candidates: Royale, Burger Joint, Shake Shack, Five Guys, J.G. Melon
This is by no means a definitive list, only a guide to the burger places I would recommend.
Five Guys:
Five guys is a fast food burger. In other words, it’s closer to an In-And-Out patty then a gourmet patty. That being said, it is a delicious fast food burger, and while I cannot in all fairness compare it to the other burgers listed here, it makes for a nice east coast version of In-And-Out – fast food a class above.
Burger Joint:
The meat is good, the cheese is good, the bun is good. However, it’s nothing mind blowing. The fries might as well have been from McDonalds.
Shake Shack:
I’ve only had it once, but I happened to have been starving, so take that into account. The meat itself is not terribly succulent, but it is well seasoned and the buttered bun and special sauce make it a fantastic burger. The fries are also phenomenal. I will definitely be going back here soon. I haven’t even started on the custard.
Royale:
A delicious burger, with meat quality one rung above Shake Shack. Still in overall taste, I’d say it falls just short of the Shack.
J.G. Melon:
Easily the best quality meat / best cooked burger on the list, with a delicious bun and waffle fries to boot. It’s not as well rounded as the Shackburger, but on a patty for patty basis, J.G. Melons takes the cake (or burger).
Conclusion: Shake Shack and J.G. Melon are my favorite burgers in the city. They are too different to choose one over the other unequivocally. Another factor is location – given that they are about 50 blocks apart, I feel no need to choose just one. It’s like having two kids – different, but beloved equally (depending on my mood).
Suggestions welcome – criticism moreso. I’m always up for a new burger.
I was using boot camp yesterday to remote into my office desktop. I am a Mac user through and through, but even after finishing my work, I didn’t bother to restart into OSX. Why? Because I was using Chrome. Besides the fact that it is easily the best browser out there (for my needs), I am finding that it matters less what operating system I’m using, and more what browser I’m using. If 80% of my time on the computer is spent in a browser (mail, chat, reading, music, video, blog), then the question of whether I’m closing tabs with the control key or the apple key seems irrelevant.
Still waiting on the edge of my seat for a Mac version of Chrome…