general update

So I'm still trying to blog more regularly. I think I should start copying emails and posting on here. I type more story a couple of times in emails, realize it isn't that interesting anyway and don't think to write a blog entry.

So since I wrote the venting blog about the senior coworker (no, he's not Spanish) he's been demoted to only be managing his department. His third engineer since I got here almost ten months ago started working for him a couple of weeks ago. In the space between the new one and the old one he needed some CAD work done so I was able to get some work out of him in the trade. My two engineers are really working well and we seem to get along really well. I'm proud of them, but I get pretty pissed when the GM doesn't show up for or cancels meetings well all crunch for and take very seriously. We've been in a perpetual "the meeting is moved to this afternoon, moved to tomorrow..." cycle for about a week and a half now. This morning we finally had our meeting and the GM didn't even show up to work until 10, an hour after we were supposed to have the meeting. The good thing is I'm pretty confident that we're doing good work and this obvious breech in professionalism is enough that I a little more blunt and forceful now.

The meeting went well, the only thing that made my blood pressure rise was when the GM's wife came in and started saying "that part (a major component to an assembly) looks to big, it doesn’t look like a set". She was making observation based on a rough prototype that wasn't even assembled. We're cutting steel on this mold tomorrow, so the timing as well what she was saying was so absolutely absurd I had a hard time not laughing, at least I wasn't fuming like the last time she decided to insert her opinion at the last minute. The second thing was a technician was called in about a question regarding a rivet's compression. He answered the question and started critiquing the project's details, a product he's never even seen before. It was kinda funny because it was so much like an old tech at Marshalltown that used to do the same thing, but it was the first time that I told someone to "quickly leave" a meeting here. It was amusing.

A Spanish company that I interviewed with last winter but didn't accept the offer has approached me again this time about a more of a management position as they prepare to introduce their products into China for domestic sales. They don't have a huge brand, mostly OEM/ODM, but they seem to have their sourcing down, going all over Asia, and I really like the guy (about my age) I'd be working with. And the possibility of living/working in Barcelona, though mostly here is pretty exciting. We'll talk more seriously in a few weeks. I'm not going to disappear from Shijia, but if I don't get the commission promised and the attention we need to efficiently complete my projects (it's to the point of being rude) I'm going to negotiate an early departure. A secondary concern is that I really like the two guys working for me and would like change jobs as a team if possible. We're working together well, making good infrastructure progress to help stuff later on work fast, and doing projects that the I've never seen any other people do here.

Another option is another company in Fenghua has been tempting me about a project manager role for a new line they want to develop. The manager (maybe VP) Chris, I'd be working for is an American friend a few years older than me with whom I really enjoy discussing the issues we meet from day to day, personally and professionally. He has an MBA as well so it's really nice to bounce ideas off of him since there is a huge management vacuum here I get faced with this kind of problems all the time.

I'm sadly still bike less! I might be borrowing a bike from Rock for a race this weekend that I'm sure will go terrible, but it'll be fun to go, see the city and friends anyway. I've got to figure out how to post his grotesque video of his road rash from his wreck last weekend. I might have written about the incredible switchbacks here. The Specialized bike shop in Shanghai is saying my new frame is stuck in customs, but, for the past week and a half, should be out anytime. It's going to be great to get it back. Cycling and swimming (and I need my bike to get to the lake in this heat) are the only outdoor activities I can tolerate in this heat over 40 (100+) today.