Categories
in china

the unwritten rules of chinese culture

“… cultural interpretation is a key business skill, as your writer points out. of course, that’s easier said than done. i have studied english for more than a decade, but I still become lost in some situations.

one time i attended a housewarming party held by a foreign friend. when asked whether i wanted a second helping of food, i replied politely in the traditional chinese way: “no, thanks” which actually means “yes, i do, but just a little“. needless to add, i went home hungry, and i’m sure many foreign businessmen have gone home “hungry” too due to miscommunication.

and so, when in china, it would be wise to “ask twice” when discussing matters of import. after all, for chinese, “beating around the bush” is a form of politeness, one that saves the face. “

spotted on a letter to the editor of a local magazine.

Categories
just life

boosting family coolness since 1992

i’ve had my name on the newspaper a few times before. usually because of some tech article, postcrossing, or crocs-related interview. none of them had any special impact on my family, in fact, most of them they never knew about any of those.

the one thing that made all my cousins proud was this photo,

splashed on page 55 (i think) of a certain portuguese religion book. that girl there, drowning the plants? that’s me.

every cousin would in turn discover this picture one day and proceed to brag to the whole class they knew this girl, their cousin ana! they felt cool – and i did too :P

ps – that’s my mom on the yellow suit (hi mom!), which is ironic since she never liked having her picture taken :)

Categories
just life

meet grub

grub

lilo has been featured on flickr and anitanachina. he’s the lazy cat, our own garfield, the one who manages to stay still (ie., to resist the urge to attack the lens) long enough for me to shoot a picture.

grub is the hyper-active one (“what is this? can i see? can i see? come here!”), the one that always comes to the door when we arrive home, to promptly lay on her back and receive some patting on her belly. acting cute works everytime and she knows it :)

Categories
geek

postcrossing v2

so finally, after 1 year or so on the works (and the meter getting close to the “1 million postcards received” mark), there’s a fresh new face on postcrossing.com, and a ton of new features.

(congratulations!, maybe now we can enjoy a bit of free time? :P )

Categories
links and ideas

roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF …

valentine’s day. i know, some people love it, some hate it. personally, what i like about it is the global brainstorming. it seems that it’s always around this time of the year that i see the most unusual, original or super-kitschy objects, carefully crafted to show your other half how much you care. if valentine’s day is the excuse for these objects to exist, then let it be, i don’t care.

this prelude leads, naturally, to a cheesy example: the 8-bit dynamic life tshirt, by the brilliant people at thinkgeek.
i’ll let them do the talking:

“Staying healthy is the key to keeping yourself alive. Video game characters know this all too well. When your red heart gauge reaches zero… you die. For non-bitmap humans like you this is more of a challenge. But luckily after extensive study at ThinkGeek labs we’ve determined that people feel best when they are in close proximity to something that they adore. Don’t understand? Well luckily for you we’ve created this amazing 8-Bit Dynamic Life Shirt to illustrate.

Buy one of these glowing shirts for yourself, and gift one to your significant other (boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, fembot 2000…). During your normal activities two and a half pixelated hearts will light up on your shirt. Hey… you’re depressed and in need of a recharge. But get within hugging distance of your significant other wearing the matching shirt and suddenly the hearts on both of your shirts start to light up until you’re fully powered up. Go too far astray from the source of your affections and you’ll drop back down to two and a half hearts again. Got it?”

suppose you’re a geek, and your other half is too *hint hint* – wouldn’t this be perfect? :P

and since the theme of the day seems to be “love”, i guess someone thought it would be a sensitive time to raise awareness on sexual dysfunctions – valentine’s day is also national impotence day in some countries. it’s a serious issue and it deserves its attention but… valentine’s day? hum…