After some weeks of trouble free Internet, we again occasionally experience hijacking. You want to go to a certain website and you land in a totally different one. I checked with others and they also had the same experience. As we learned, the problem is not in our computers, would be hackers attacking China Netcom Internet system. We called China Netcom, our Internet local provider and as expected they claimed to be totally unaware. Of course, how could they admit hackers are more astute and Netcom is vulnerable? In China there is something called “lose face”…
See earlier posts for more details.
Month: October 2006
Be aware! Your laptop can be read by the customs!
Many businesspeople travel around with laptops containing confidential information, private or company related. Be aware your precious laptop can be seized or its contents scrutinized (“forensic analysis”) by the customs people at customs and immigration checkpoints upon entering the country. Businesspeople might end up without their laptop they expect to use for presentations, work or private use. The search can be done “without probable cause, reasonable suspicion or warrant” according to the country’s court. What happens to the data, no guarantee. Just think about highly confidential company information or your wife’s nude picture to keep you in a good spirit during your trip.
Oops! Forgot to mention again. The country is the USA. Just imagine if Chinese customs would do the same, expect an international outcry.
Be warned. Source: IHT 25 October 06.
All quiet on northeastern front (China Daily 19 Oct)
A PLA officer explained, the 2 meter high fence with barbed wire along the border with the DPRK “was erected to prevent people and livestock from crossing the border by mistake” (China Daily 19 Oct). Oh boy, I would like to see those high-jumping livestock. Our Belgian cows don’t need that high fences. The PLA did not provide pics of the jumpy cows or sheep.
Now the question remains: are those fences in the Beijing embassy area set up to keep the live stock in or out of the embassies? Are embassies afraid the flying cattle would enter and graze on their lovely lawns? I can understand the cows, not much grass around there except in the embassy gardens. Also, I will not by mistake enter the Belgian embassy when visiting the small Friendship Supermarket across the street.
Grandfather again!
Sunday 22 October 2006: a call on my mobile…
Gilbert is grandfather again and Danny has a small brother – “Mikey”!
Marianne called me from Washington DC when I was in the middle of a seminar where I was a speaker and was just having Q&A. She told me the great news, she just had her second son – two days earlier than planned. What a surprise… I got pretty emotional and needed a stiff drink to recover (Jack Daniels to be American).
Name: Michael Ivis Cardwell, weight 3.37 kg and 50.8 cm long, or “Mikey”.
After some false starts on Saturday morning, a very hectic Sunday morning. At 5:30 am Marianne woke up having contractions and her water broke at 6:00. Marianne and Mike (or Michael) got to the hospital at 6:30, barely made it through registration, with contractions coming every minute or so. There was no time for an epidural and “Mikey” was born at 7:11 AM (local time in USA).
Mother and son are both doing great. Here are a few pictures taken by the Dad who also survived the experience without complications.
Marianne, Mikey trying the make the V-sign but then getting tired.
For more info see the blog of “The Cardwell Kids” – my two grandsons.
The ANA Beijing International Marathon 2006
Finally the much feared day – 15 October – is history and I finished my 4th marathon in a row, all in Beijing. First one was in 2003, les than two years after starting to do some sports and … running. I remember one day in 2002 I came home and proudly announced I had managed to run 1 Km on the treadmill. That machine looked so menacing to me and I could not imagine I could actually RUN. Here we are now and also 6 to 7 Kg lighter:
Year Official Time
2003 4h 48m 21s
2004 4h 45m 40s
2005 4h 39m 40s
2006 4h 31m 24s – real time 4h 30m
This year the weather and organization were both OK. Not like that horrible 2004 one when it was unusually warm and water was not available after Km 30. And you could drop dead also after Km 35 without anybody in sight to help you. Unfortunately two runners did drop dead, not to speak the over 100 others who needed to go to the hospital (of course official figures were lower…).
still strong – still positive
We had a grey sky, around 18C, low wind and pollution level (API) between 105 and 125 (not that great but for Beijing already “good”).
The good point:
Lots of volunteers, water stands, pickup buses all the way till the finish. This time, little nuisance from passing traffic.
The weak points were at the start – too chaotic – and the finish: impossible to get the certificate (at least 200 runners waiting), so I left without. Nobody could come to watch the arrival nor pick up the runners so other confusion of lost runners and friends. Especially foreigners who came to cheer were very unhappy. Somehow my family managed to shout a cryptic message before I entered the Asian Games complex (National Olympic Sports Center) so I knew I had to look for them at the East Gate.
My new training program did help me and I gained again several minutes. My time was 4 Hours and 30 minutes for the 42.195 Km. And it took exactly 41,000 steps – the reason why my leg muscles were all banana for the rest of the day. But on Monday I was “running” around to the usual busy meetings. Staircases were a bit tough to handle tough.
second thoughts or just nervous? – Carl (waiving) all cheerful
That pales of course compared to my friend Carl-Ludwig Doerwald who was close to me at the starting point and finished in 3H 40M real time.
the huge crowd
The Marathon is getting a bit too crowded – about 25,000 runners packed on Tiananmen in the morning, for the 4K, 8K, half marathon and full marathon. As usual in China, messy, disorganized and easy to get hurt at the start as nobody really cares to follow orders.
But I am not going to miss the next chaos and I will again see how to improve my training schedule. As for now, salvation! Back to my cigar, a good wine, my whisky and all the stuff that I am not supposed to do. Santé!