random notes before travelling

1: Off to Linfen tomorrow. I have an early flight to Yuncheng, which is apparently the closest civilian airport to Linfen. I’ll be picked up there then driven up to Linfen. I have a little work out there tomorrow afternoon, then apparently I get to see some of the sights on Sunday. Unfortunately, the need to get back to Yuncheng for my Sunday evening flight back to Beijing means that it’s far more logical for them to take me to the world’s second largest salt lake down near Yuncheng than to the Great Scholar Tree in Hongtong County. Oh well, next time.

2: The boss and I were driving along Tonghuihe Bei Lu south of the CBD beween Xidawang Lu and the Third Ring Road. We passed what must be the last crop of old houses in the CBD area. There were tons of police and chengguan and workers had just started demolition. There were still random people standing around or on their last remaining bits of wall and roof.

3: I’m using the big university-supplied computer because the HP laptop’s screen was flickering too badly and the brother-in-law reclaimed the Lenovo. This computer has not passed Windows Genuine disAdvantage, and so I was wondering how long it would take before it got black screened:

screen shots the lazy bastard way- use the cellphone
screen shots the lazy bastard way- use the cellphone

Actually, it looks pretty cool that way, don’t you think? A definite improvement over the old wallpaper. I think I’ll just leave it like this. And yes, there is a plastic film still stuck over the screen- I’m too lazy to take it off. And yes, that is my weirdly twisted reflection.

4: Just to make it clear: I do not condone software piracy. This is not my computer and I had no part in its installation and setting up. It’s supplied by the university and whoever’s responsible for these computers is the one who installed the fake XP.

5: I’ve been far too busy this week. I’m behind on essay marking- but catching up- and I’ve had bugger all time to keep up with the news. And now I have a trip to southern Shanxi this weekend. Hopefully next week will be a little more relaxed.

About the Author

wangbo

A Kiwi teaching English to oil workers in Beijing, studying Chinese in my spare time, married to a beautiful Beijing lass, consuming vast quantities of green tea (usually Xihu Longjing/西湖龙井, if that means anything to you), eating good food (except for when I cook), missing good Kiwi ale, breathing smog, generally living as best I can outside Godzone and having a good time of it.

2 thoughts on “random notes before travelling

  1. Yeah, software piracy is a huge problem in China, pirated software everywhere, even in government agencies.

    Microsoft is also kind of evil but I must praise it this time. My desktop background has always been on black (and I have a genuine vista), it not only looks cool but also saves power for CRT monitors, and protects your eyesight.

    Micro$oft has definitely done a good job this time by saving the eyesights of the computer game loving generation – wonder why Micro$oft labels pirated software users as “victims”, when there are so many benefits you can enjoy by becoming one.

  2. Heh, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Thanks Microsoft for helping me protect my eyes. Nor had I realised a black background would save power- and power saving is always good. I was just pleasantly surprised to see how cool it looks. Now I’m definitely keeping the background black.

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