Today, I gave away a second phonograph player that I own. I've owned two phonograph players for at least 15 years. Neither of them are "DJ units", just standard home units manufactured in '87 and '91. The one I gave away isn't as good as the other one, but I had bought it myself. The better one, that I still use, was given to me. But one day, maybe I would need the other unit....
One year ago, I arrived in China. I cherish the time that I spent there, and wish I had more time to spend there. Due to a number of issues that are beyond my control, the possibility of me getting back to China for any length of time in the future is greatly diminished. I consider several of the people that I met in China to be close friends of mine to this day....
September 11, 2001 I was on a consulting assignment to help install and configure a web based software product at Caterpillar in Pontiac, Illinois. I arrived at the Bloomington, IL airport on the morning of September 10th, and was asked to visit the headquarters in East Peoria on September 11th. To save the customer money, another consultant agreed to lend me his pickup truck for the drive to East Peoria (on the other end of the state)....
I feel that I should begin by expressing how safe I felt while I was in Beijing. I felt safer in every part of Beijing than I do in downtown Minneapolis. The news outlets don't really say that enough while sharing this bit of news. Actual physical attacks on foreigners are very unusual in Beijing. Like any large city, crimes of opportunity are common, but confrontational attacks against foreigners are incredibly rare....