Patrick "Trick" van Staveren

It’s going to rain tomorrow

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Trick

But the sunset is beautiful today!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Shanghai, Sunset | Comments Off

Having a late brunch (4:30pm!) here in Singapore and I’m sitting across from a rather brightly painted Alkaff Bridge, drinking a Bulmers and waiting for my dim sum to arrive. They have my favorite kind, chasiu bao (barbeque pork steamed buns). Lets hope they’re as good as in Shanghai, else I’m on the next flight.

Work here has gone very well. My primary task is installing an IP phone system which is really great technology and simple to use.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Singapore | 3 Comments

Why do we send email from noreply@?

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Trick

I received an email today from Yes 4G in Malaysia trying to sell me an internet service that I’ve already bought. But forget about that slip up, here’s what really bugs me: why do their emails come with a From: address of noreply@yes.my?

Why would it be so bad if a customer decided to reply and say, “Yes, I would like to buy your product!” Do we really detest customers talking to us?

Some crufty old IT people will say “we use that because the number of bounce-backs we get because of full or nonexistent mailboxes.” Unless you’re an email dinosaur, you’re using marketing email software that will automatically filter out bounce-backs and allow you to read the replies of your would-be customers. Every one of those emails is a sales lead.

A sales lead that Yes just missed.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Software | Comments Off

My bicycling friends at Shanghai Jiaotong University

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Trick

I had the greatest bike ride last Friday night. I had gone out to the bar & had dinner with some co-workers and was headed home around 11 PM, riding home on Shimen Rd. #1 just north of Weihai road, and in the other direction I see a mass of about 20 cyclists on nice bikes all wearing helmets. As I say to everyone, a helmet is a sign of an experienced cyclist. I double and triple took, and after a minute, I turned around and rode after them to say hi!

The group is from Shanghi Jiaotong University 上海交通大学 and since they had recently finished classes, they were going for an all-night bicycle ride in Shanghai. I met lots of nice people and we talked culture and food and cycling. My phone had died so I couldn’t take any photos, so I exchanged email addresses with a few riders and they emailed me a photo this week.

Hi to Jessie and Ginn – thank you for the photos! I’m always up for a friendly bike ride in Shanghai.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Shanghai | 1 Comment

Sunshine

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Trick

First sunny day in as long as I can remember! The rainy season has been miserable the last few weeks, but maybe it’s finally passing?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Shanghai | Comments Off

Another year in China

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Trick

I got my renewed visa back today, I’m legal for another year in China!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Shanghai | 2 Comments

More styrofoam anyone?

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Trick

It’s like an ant, carrying a Cheeto on it’s back – the physics of it actually blow your mind. But it’s common here in Shanghai – you’ll see a 3-wheeler bike with stuff piled up so high you can’t believe it’s even holding together, and yet it somehow is. Here’s an amazing one I saw today on my bike ride in northern Shanghai, around Taopu.

From Drop Box

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Shanghai | Comments Off

Great Circle Mapper & a year’s travel

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Trick

I moved to China a wee bit over a year ago, and I’ve had the pleasure of doing a ton of traveling since. I never thought I’d actually say “It’d b nice to stay still for a minute” – I’ve always wanted to go see lots of places in the world, and my job provides me just such an opportunity!

Sarah asked me last week how many miles I’ve flown in the last year, and I realized I hadn’t been keeping track. So I made a spreadsheet! The Shanghai-Chicago flight is the longest flight I’ve ever done at 7,000 miles / 13 hours, but I’ve flown over 100,000 miles this year, which is an absurd number.

This gives me an opportunity to show off one of my favorite websites, the Great Circle Mapper. It allows you to put in two or more airport codes and it’ll plot you a map showing your actual flight path. Here’s my first year of travel: