I was in a Marvel mood, of sorts. Presented with some 30+ movies on the 13-hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong, I opted for back-to-back showings of high-action low-brow super hero-style entertainment. The Watchmen got me from California to British Columbia; Wolverine from BC to Sitka; Keanu and his Matrix Evolution from the Aleutians to Korea, then IronMan from Taiwan to HK. Sprinkled between these testosterone-saturated films I chuckled to bits and pieces of The Flight of the Conchords (precioso) and a Paul Rudd film (letdown).
I am feeling more caught up now, in regards to recent blockbusters. I am also beginning to feel more caught up with sleep despite the jet lag that always works me over for a few days when crossing the pond. I was in desperate need of rest, and ironically a trip to China is just what I need. Confused? Well, the last couple of days/weeks/months have been torching the candle at both ends, as they say; to the extent that I have had a lingering sinus infection and a seemingly stress-induced case of gingivitis. If you knew me, which perhaps you DO know me if you’re reading this, you know my begrudging motto is “thank you sir may I have another!?” when I get buried with to-dos… well this time has almost cracked me.
So in a very strange way I was stoked to learn I was headed to China with my boss for a two-week factory visit. I left the 12th of August and am now three days in. The miracle of freeze-dried coffee has carried me through these early days, each hour becoming more bearable as my brain and soul adapt to the time zone (fourteen hours later than Boise). Our purpose here is to oversee production of the 2010 line of products, solving some fabric design challenges in the process and introducing me to the international team. I knew going in this was a learning experience for me, yet I do wish I could contribute more to the issues we are battling. For the most part I’m a quiet observer, snapping pictures and updating the daily log to help the hours tick by.
China is China, just as I remembered it from last September (surprise!). Ironically our factory is perhaps a 45-minute drive from Ugobe’s old manufacturer. The weather is hot, sitting around 40-degrees C and who knows what percentage humidity, but we are caved-up in a relatively cool conference room meeting with team after team of fabric wizards. Yes, fabric wizards, imagine that if you dare.
I doubt we will have the opportunity to play tourist. For the most part trip is pure business: we arrive at the factory before nine AM and don’t leave before eight PM. We even eat dinner here! I managed to wake up a smidge early this morning to check out the “Gymnasium Health Centre” (note British spelling?) in the hotel. I lasted a mere 25-minutes on the treadmill as I’d forgotten to bring a towel and water was leaving my body in mass exodus and coating the belt and risking severe injury should I continue. There was no airflow. A hotel worker passed through, saw me, scurried out quickly and returned with a cup of water. I asked him “towel?” He pointed me to a box of Kleenex. I picked up a Kleenex, stuck it to my forehead, paused for a few seconds to let the situation really hit him, and asked him “bigger towel?” Response: “No bigger towel”. OK then, I’ll remember my room towel next time. Nevertheless it felt good to get the heart rate up in the name of caloric conflagration.
I will now relate some wisdom in the form of a parable. A few weeks back we ran out of dog food for McKinley and I ended up serving her three meals of rice and eggs before we went to the store and bought another bag of her normal diet. She loved the variety, loved it. Those three little meals spelled disaster for her digestive system for a solid week, and walking her around the neighborhood took on a whole new level of disgusting. Without going in to detail I’ll just say that I can relate to McKinley. Did McKinley love the new food and tasty spices I put in to the rice? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Not so much.
And so concludes my China update for now. It feels good to write, I’m sure I’ll do so again over these next few days.
