Personal

My Friend Da Shan, aka Mark Rowswell

Don's Blog - Tue, 02/07/2012 - 23:10

It has been a long time since I have talked to him, but I still clearly recall going to school with Mark Rowswell. In China he is much more commonly known as “Da Shan”, or Big Mountain. Mark is not only Canadian, like myself, but also comes from Toronto, my home town.

I met Mark while attending classes at Beijing University. As fellow Canadians in a place with many more Americans and other foreigners, we, of course, got to know each other. It turns out that his parents lived near lived near my parents, in the quiet suburb of North York, around Don Mills and Finch.

It was clear very early that Mark was gifted at learning Mandarin. Apart from his BA in languages from the University of Toronto, he spent the time to hang out on the streets of Beijing, near our university, to talk to the locals. Over time he had picked up some pretty guttural Beijing Hua. He could switch it on and back to standard Mandarin like a light switch, which was amazing.

While Mark had inspired me to run to the Beijing Foreign Language Institute in order to purchase a Beijing Hua dictionary, colloquial Beijing Hua never stuck with me. I still speak with a very standard Dongbei accent, albeit with an unconscious trailing ‘r’ on many words. The Dongbei people I meet find it odd.

One thing about Mark was his dedication to studying Mandarin. He took classes in the Zhongwen Xi with other native Chinese students. He studied hard to keep up. There were few students that studied harder than Mark.

One night a group of us were chatting in our dorm when Mark came by. He told us about his idea of learning Xiangsheng from a famous Xiangsheng master. Which Xiangsheng master would spend the time to teach a student, much less a foreign student? He told us he had, with the help of friends, already found a Xiangsheng master, and that he was taking classes. The goal was to practice for the New Year’s Festival.

He told us about his Xiangsheng costume. He went to his room get it. He returned dressed in a long dark green silk dress, the ones seen in old Chinese movies. His sleeves were large at the openings. The quality of the material was excellent. Mark told us that such costumes were difficult to find in Beijing and were expensive. As Xiangsheng newbies at the time we had a good laugh at his costume and wished him very well.

A recent news article stated that Mark had just become a new Canadian cultural ambassador to China. I would counter that Mark has been Canada’s cultural ambassador to China for a good twenty years. He is a truly nice guy, fun to be around and quite normal by any measure. Yet his Mandarin stands head and shoulders over any other foreigner I have heard, including myself.

Mark’s curiosity and dedication to China is unquestionable. While we were evacuated to HK during the Tiananmen incident, Mark went just a little south of Beijing and stayed with locals. When I returned to China in August, Mark was nonplussed: He had never left China. There was no risk to foreigners, he said, and he was correct.

When I returned to China in 2008 I turned on the TV to find Mark teaching Chinese the English words for officiating soccer. I saw his face on shopping bags and on billboards. It was interesting to see Mark’s face 15′ high. I also saw Mark lead the Canadian Olympic team for the opening games in Beijing. Was that not part of his ambassador role?

As a Chinese Canadian I will never stick out like a white foreigner in China. In China Mark Rowswell attempts the impossible: To be a native Chinese in China and he does a good job of it.

Categories: Personal

What is next in this sequence: SSS SCC C SC?

Don's Blog - Mon, 01/30/2012 - 03:30

Some interview questions are simply very puzzling to me. They beg the question “Why do they ask them”, and what is there to be gained. Interviews are stressful events, and to ask a candidate seemingly idiotic questions that prove seeming little about their innate talents can be worse than pointless. These questions may show that the interviewing company treats their employees irresponsibly.

A case in point the question above: What is the next in the sequence SSS SCC C SC? This IT interview question is said to be from Google Corp. You can google for the answer, as I did. I found the solution here.

The answer is neither logical, binary nor very clever. “SSS” stands for 3 straight lines, with which you can print the letter “A”. “SCC” stands for one straight line and two curved lines, which makes for the spine of the “B”, as well as the chest and belly. “C” simply stands for itself. The “S” of “SC” stands for the spine of “D”, and the “C” is the belly. Logically the next in the sequence is “SSSS”, four straight lines which can then create “E”. Write code like this and the support programmer after you will curse you and your ancestors for 1,000 years, and rightly so.

As a backlash against these corporate interview questions, the Career Cup has created a database of interview questions, sorted by job type, company and question type. This is a logical step in this interview arms race, and I applaud their efforts. Still I wonder if the effort put into remembering the solutions to these obscure questions is really wasted effort. They add nothing to the candidate’s technical or interpersonal skills, nor do they add to the candidate’s general knowledge of the world. While learning useless facts and figures may be acceptable for those who wish to learn such, I am sure this is not the case for the vast majority of candidates.

And what about those who’s first language is not English? Do these interview questions help find the best candidates, or simply eliminate qualified and talented individuals?

I wonder aloud if these questions by interviewers are meant to satisfy some perverse need to psychologically torture candidates? Are interviewers simply spicing up their daily grind of a job by having fun at the expense of interviewing candidates? I am unsure. While these questions are not technically illegal they do cast the interviewing company in a very bad light.

As an interviewer we all have personal choices. Asking questions that have seemingly no bearing on the candidate’s background, experience, education and applicability to the job position seems like an abuse of your authority over a candidate.

More bluntly, if you are an interviewer, don’t be a jerk.

Categories: Personal

Deja Vu-like, the Morning Commute has not Improved

Don's Blog - Sun, 01/01/2012 - 23:33

Going back to the commute routine has been eye opening, which caught me by surprise. It’s not like this is new to me, but getting used to the TTC and the quickness of pace has been eye opening.

The TTC seems to have stayed the same. I expected advancements, but this is not so. They struggle to keep from falling backward on themselves. While most bus drivers are courteous, I have met those who are not. Once there was a detour because of a crime and police had closed the road. This driver did not even announce why he was detouring, so many people asked. He got so mad.

One day on the Yonge subway line I was able to try out the new subway trains. This is one long train that you can walk from one end to the other. Very nice. The schedule has LEDs that light red or green, but have no legend, so I did not know their meaning. Was I to guess? The loudness of these trains was by far much less than the old TTC subways, and much more comfortable. Annoying was the fact that the metal passenger handles on the roof and in the middle of the car squeaked incessantly when passengers and the train moved. This was a new train, and these metal handles were squeaking like rusted objects left out in the rain.

Finding your most efficient TTC route takes some time. The Finch East towards Yonge Street has had construction for the last year. Traffic was down to one lane, slowing the express bus to a crawl. That was the last I used that route.

As I knew before, most TTC commuters sleep. At leat 60% of all commuters close their eyes and try to wish away their commuting experience. Others have ear pieces and listen to music while sleeping. It is annoying to walk behind those that fiddle with their phones and e-toys, who slow down because they need to concentrate on their fiddling. Please, people, step aside and fiddle, and let others walk to their destination.

Electronic toys will be the death of many, I am sure. I saw some guy trip on the sidewalk while texting, and there was no break in the sidewalk. Two people walk into each other, both texting on their devices. It is comical. Darwin candidate?

People are as colourful as usual, with a variety of dress and looks. It is interesting to see them and analyze their dress. Pretty girls everywhere. To fit in and to look normal, seemingly.

I walk and look through my narrow periscope, trying to see the big picture. Maybe the solution is to aggregate these experiences and build up a composite.

Categories: Personal

Clo-vents Chronological: I learn so much

Don's Blog - Sun, 01/01/2012 - 23:12

Regret is how I feel about not posting these earlier. Still, life goes on and so I go. All these events have been memorable, and at each one I learn more as I continue on my way, either through technique, talking to people, or myself. Overall, it is 3 x win.

C-vents:

• Canada Day and Parade, 2011: Riding, Premier M, J, U, poking fun at people. Used my ruddy turned up blue nose, to good effect. It is not too heavy. Was tired for the P, but happy as well.
• Waterford Festival, 2011: My premier twisting event. Some kid called me “dog”, which apparently is a good thing. U not good on grass or steep hills. Used my round yellow nose, very light and comfy, to good effect.
• Halloween Skating, Scarborough, Oct 30 2011: Had fun skating, used a very large red round. A little too large to stick and started to separate, bobbed up and down too much. Attracted lots of kids, but especially two kids, Mingming and Yeye, whom I have been sitting beside for about 3 months but they did not notice me through that time. Now they say Hi every week.
• Thornhill Historical Parade, 2011: Crowded, there was no bus at the end of the event, so had to walk. Lots of people, but Ok. Helmet top of 3 toys was too heavy, kept falling off. Performed M for a little girl on the TTC that sat across from me, while all the adults watched. Used my small red nose. Light and comfy.
• New Year’s Eve, Scarborough Civic Centre, Dec 31 2011: Little Weed twisted and had a great time. He learned a lot from another, Sparky. I did M and J. Used my new small and shiny red nose, light and really comfy. Freaked out a lot of adults, mostly. I met the rest of the SCofC, which I could not do previously. Did M in Mandarin and freaked out a lady and her son and daughter, who ran from me. No, this is no voodoo. Stiff rope went over very well, as did Prof’s Night. Fun was had by all.
• Port Union Winterfest 2012: It was raining and there was a high wind, so everyone was inside. I got lost getting to the event, and parking was terrible. We were late. Little Weed enjoyed twisting, but we ran out of supplies an hour before the event ended. They fed us a burger and drink, which was nice. Few events treat us to food.

Onward, Forward, Upward.

Categories: Personal