Parlez vous francais? Or any other language, for that matter?
The other day I was reading a technical book, particularly a section in explaining how vastly different some of the programming languages out there can be from one another. The author made an off-hand comment about how he wishes there were one language so that all applications could easily talk with one another, and then continued to make an even more off-hand comment about how he wishes there were only one spoken language so that people could all communicate with one another. As someone who believes that preserving a culture requires preserving the language (even as it evolves), I found this remark highly offensive.
I understand the value in being able to effectively communicate with another person, but I don't think this would be achieved by having everyone speak English or Spanish or your language of choice, especially in cross-cultural situations. To learn someone's language is not just to learn their words; learning a language exposes you to their history and their culture, thus learning a huge part of who that person is. To understand that person, what makes him/her tick, is how you effectively communicate, in my high opinion.
So that said, if every non-native English speaker out there were to just learn English, would be expecting them to learn American English, Canadian English, The Queen's English or even Aussie English? And if we go with American English, will we choose the Southern Drawl, Minnesota's tendency to draw out vowels (particularly the O), or SoCal speak?
Yes...I really believe that distinction is important.
A Day of Races
Yesterday was an event-filled day for me. I woke up at 5:30 AM thinking that Floyd Landis most likely won the Tour de France (which, I later confirmed, he did). The only reason I'd drag myself out of bed that early is for a race; Mike and I ran in a 15k. Because we've been experiencing a heat wave for the last few days and due to insufficient sleep (because the house couldn't cool down enough, even at night), Mike and I knew that this race would be tough. Forget about keeping pace; we just needed to stay cool enough to avoid heat exhaustion. The race started at 7 am, and it was about 75 degrees with enough humidity in the air (by West Coast standards) that it was a bit harder to breathe.
At the start of the race, we were doing pretty well, keeping a slower pace than our usual, but I was feeling strong and certain that I'd make it up the hills. We turned the corner and headed up Broadway, then wound our way up to the Terwilliger curves. It was about 1/3 of the way up Terwilliger that I realized this race and this heat was taking its toll on me, and that I was going to have to go even slower. I pushed forward, and started looking forward to the downhill back to the finish. When we finally conqueured the hills, we realized that the downhill wasn't even enough for us to recover. At this point, I just wanted to finish; I didn't care about time. Somewhere between mile 7 and mile 8, we saw a woman on a stretcher being treated for heat exhaustion, and admittedly, we were surprised we hadn't seen more of that. I finally crossed the line. I won't say what my time is, since I don't think it was important for this race. I was just happy that we finished.
When we got home, I took a cool shower, and then checked online to see how my friend Joanne was doing in her race, Ironman Lake Placid. She was on her second lap of the bike. I went to take a nap. I woke up, ate some lunch, and by this time, the webcast was streaming real-time video of the finishers. I was so impressed by this feature, how good the video was, that I ended up watching sitting in front of my little Powerbook all afternoon watching people achieve such an enormous goal. It was addictive. Mike joined me later, and we saw Joanne (with her fianc?© Paul beside her) cross that line with a big smile on her face. Congratulations, Joanne! You are an Ironman!
Business philosophies
This morning a co-worker sent me a link to a blog, Daily reports from the Chief Happiness Officer. Sounds a little too feel-good, right? Well, I will tell you that I think this guy is right on the money and understands the key factors to having healthy, happy, productive, and maybe even loyal employees. A few of his topics include: Top 5 reasons why "The Customer is Always Right" is wrong, The cult of overwork, and The cult of overwork (again).
At this point, I need to state that I consider myself a hard-working individual who believes in being productive. But I also think that producitivity in the American work culture has its limits, and that one can work too much and not be productive. I will admit that I am a firm believer in having a work-life balance, and I try hard to keep that balance in my life. Once in awhile, I don't mind pulling in more hours at work to meet a deadline, but I'd like that to be a once-in-a-blue-moon case and not a regular situation. Reading this guy's blog is refreshing; I am comforted in knowing that working only 40 hours is not a dying idea or one that signifies laziness. It simply means that work is not the only importance in our lives.
Anyway, I like this blog so much, I'm adding it to my blogroll.
“Joanne Pons, you are an Ironman!”
It's time! My friend Joanne will be racing in Ironman Lake Placid this Sunday, July 23. She has raced in half Ironmans, but this will be her first Ironman. She's been training hard, and I admire her focus and dedication. I know she'll get to hear the announcer shout "Joanne Pons, you are an IRONMAN!!!" when she crosses that finish line! I'll be tracking her progress throughout the day at www.ironmanlive.com, after I conquer my own small challenge, the Cascade Run Off 15k. Go Joanne!
How the Wangs celebrated the US’s freedom from the British…
We had a mini Wang Family reunion here in Portland over the holiday weekend. My cousin Ang and her husband Bob (angbob) were visiting friends, and Eddie's parents came for their annual Portland trip. It was so much fun to see them, and it made me wish that our families were more centralized. These days, with people so scattered across the country, it seems like most people see their families at weddings and funerals. My uncle suggested that we meet somewhere for regular family reunions. Our friend (cousin-in-law???) Grant was telling us that his mom's family have annual "Grant Family Reunions" of a TON of people. They even have t-shirts. I think that's awesome.