Bjorn Ruwald
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Archive for May, 2006

Nike + iPod

Wednesday, May 24th, 2006

nike_ipod.jpgI always run with my iPod, but I’ve had to use third-party devices for everything related to my running - even for timing!

Answering all my prayers, :), Nike and Apple has made a kit, Nike+iPod, that times, provides calorie burn data and a lot more; it also syncs with the new iTunes.

How cool! I’m getting the kit as soon as it’s out.

Tom Peters in London

Wednesday, May 17th, 2006

Management guru Tom Peters presented in London one of these days. Although I like Tom’s writing, his slides are not the prettiest on Earth. But they are worth while, and the ones from his London event is one of the best sets I’ve seen recently. In them, he treats topics such as:

  • Women - and why they contribute/will contribute more to GDP growth than emerging markets (the BRIC countries) or the Internet
  • Washing your hands - is the single best thing you can do to stay free of diseases
  • “Nobody gives you power. You just take it!”

And much, much more. They are really worth while, so go have a look, a laugh, and gain some insights (albeit, not from slide design :-) ). Here is the link.

Kung Fu Fighting

Tuesday, May 9th, 2006

China trip, Day Eight—April 13: About half way through the trip on this beautiful, sunny Thursday. The sky was still a bit clear from yesterday, but it that slowly became history as the day passed by. We started the day at the Renmin University (the People’s University), which has a new and pretty campus in a quiet and quite nice neighbourhood. Picture of one of their, I guess main buildings, below:

renmin-building.jpg

The entire morning was a seminar with a couple of presentations on human resource management in China by some of their MBA students, which was followed by a discussion with a number of MBA students. It was interesting to see their perspective on things, and—especially—debating culture. We had to “warm them up” in order to really get the debate going, and, still, at that point you could not be entirely sure that what we heard was their opinion or that of someone else (say, Chinese Government?). In any case, all of the students were friendly, warm of heart and sociable.

In the afternoon, we had paid a visit to the Beijing Biotech and New Medical Development Center. It was, mostly, a sales pitch: Why place your pharma R&D in Beijing? and like-minded questions were answered. But useful stats and historical developments came about as well.

In the evening, and one of the many high-lights of the trip, was a visit to a theatre showing the story about Kung Fu; expected, but fascinating choreography, music full of fantasy, and a visual experience of calibre. I could go there again. Picture, below:

kung-fu.jpg
kung-fu2.jpg

At last, Sunshine

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

China Trip, Day Seven—April 12: On the programme for today was a visit to the Danish embassy and hereafter the Danish industrial company F.L. Schmidth. During the night there had been hurricane winds, which completely cleared the usually dusty air and smog-filled sky, which was wonderful. You really feel the clean air, when you took a breath, and you could see the sun for the first time, because the smog had been blown away. On a day like this, Beijing started looking attractive and got the nice spring-feel over it. Everyone had their sun glasses out. Our embassy was situated in an Embassy neighbourhood, so it was a rather calm place, with almost no traffic and people, but a lot of fences and guards. The nice weather, though, made these rather cold surroundings seem nice. Below, a picture of the entrance to the Danish Embassy.

embassy.jpg

After our morning visit, we split up for lunch. A couple of friends and I headed for PizzaHut to get some real proteins, something we had been missing ever since we got here. What stroke us about the restaurant, which is a normal McDonalds-like fast food restaurant in Western countries, was that it was a really upscale, nice restaurant here: Marble floor, starlight ceilings, luxury couches to sit in and so on. And—not to forget—the toilets were the nicest we had seen so far here in China, and they were up to par to any Western luxury restaurant.

Our afternoon visit was with F.L. Schmidth, a Danish industrial that makes concrete factories and related things. Their head office is located in a good looking apartment/business cluster called East Lake, which is in a very nice part of Beijing. East Lake Villas was actually established many, many years ago by another Danish company, EAC. Below a picture of the entrance to East Lake.

east-lake.jpg
 
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