China 2009

Ni hao.

I love China... I really do. On Tuesday 1 September 2009, I checked in at the beautiful and cosy YuNing Hotel, Shenyang, China. Shenyang is one of China's manufacturing strongholds. I was in China to present an engineering paper on global manufacturing systems at the 7th International Conference on e-Engineering and Digital Enterprise Technology hosted by the Northeastern University (NEU) in Shenyang... and I had prepared my mind to enjoy every bit of China.

The conference was successful thanks to my mentor who encouraged me to attend the conference.

I made great friends at NEU where I spent nearly my entire one week in China. The campus is beautiful...



...and the grad students at NEU are exceptionally down-to-earth and lovely. They have great sense of homour. We had good laughs at all times.



I had so much fun... and tried everything Chinese: I learned to speak a few Chinese words and sentences; I enjoyed Chinese foods... Right now "wo xiang chi mi fan."



...and I used the chopsticks a few times too. Hei hei.

...Oh yeah, I would never forget my Chinese tea tasting with Jay on my right. Ganbei!

Although I am in regular correspondence with my great friends in China, I must sincerely admit that I miss them a whole lot. Saying "zai jian" (goodbye) on Monday 7 September 2009 was very teary. I wished it had rather been a "mingtian jian" (see you tomorow).

All work and no fun...

If you love the adrenal rush from the mystery, horror, thriller and suspense genre... and have a strong stomach for serious stuffs that also contain laughs... then why not take a break to:

•  Watch a trailer... and preview the Michael Flowers' Jackal
• Preview the Michael Flowers' Jackal screenplay
• View the Michael Flowers' Jackal storyboard

Business Workshop

I was in Ghana for a 52-day visit from June-August 2009 during which time the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) requested for a 2-day workshop on Innovation and Entrepreneurship that would benefit 32 African university students currently being sponsored through the Deutsche Akademische Fluechtling Initiative (DAFI) or Albert Einstein Academic Refugee Initiative Fund. As a DAFI Scholar myself, it was a honour and privilege to be given such a great opportunity to give back to the refugee student community thanks to the UNHCR.


The structure of the 29-30 July 2009 workshop on Innovation and Entrepreneurship was based on the recently published second edition or expanded version of The Moneymaking Code—a "what-to-do" and"how-to" self-help course material that is designed to help you discover moneymaking capabilities of niche products and services in the niche marketplace. You may have been pregnant with great entrepreneurial ideas, but a few obstacles here and there might have prevented you from progressing your business and innovative ideas to the next level.

As refugees face many challenges particularly in the job hunting department, the workshop placed emphasis on how to create one's own business very little or no start-up capital. It was practically about:

• Sharing straight-forward, easy-to-follow, non-jargonistic information on how to unlock the moneymaking secrets.
  
• Helping you quit talking, and begin doing.
• Helping you create extra streams of income while you keep your present job or continue doing the stuffs you love.
• Encouraging you to become an entrepreneur with minimal or zero start-up budget.
• Helping you translate your writing ability to becoming an authorpreneur—getting paid for writing.
• And the list goes on...

From left to right: David, Elton, Melanie, me, and Allison

With the generous involvement of academic colleagues (David Ako Odoi, Elton Owusu, and Allison Felix Hughes), Melanie Flowers and Nurideen Ibrahim of the Flowers School of Technology and Management, the support of the UNHCR, Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), KLK GmbH,  Gatlin International LLC, and Kojo Denanyoh CEO of Primestar Productions, the workshop was successful. If you are interested in reading the Analysis of the Course Participant's Evaluation (courtesy of Dr. Joseph Adonu), please click to DOWNLOAD or view workshop photos.

Above all we had fun.

Norway 2009

On 17 May 2009, Norwegians proudly celebrated their national Constitution Day anniversary in grand style. The celebration included parade of school of kids, brass band march, musical and traditional dance performances, high school grads (RUSS) in red, blue or black costumes marching through the principal streets. Joe and I proudly joined in the parade and attended the Church service at Volda.

Sassy, frisky and family

Bluemle is our 4-year old 4-legged family. She is frisky, sassy, full of energy... and has an attitude. In summer 2005, my wife and I went away on holiday... and so Bluemle had to stay at my aunt-in-law's, who has two rabbits. We later learned how Bluemle, then at only 11-12 months, chased out one of the rabbits. Although my wife's aunt and family were shocked at how a tiny visiting guinea-pig could chase their rabbit out of the rabbit's own territory, my wife and I weren't. We burst out laughing. Typical Bluemle. Sadly Bluemle has been diagnosed of suffering from advanced stage cancer... and the doctor has given her 2-6 months. We believe in the power of prayer and so we continue to pray for the guinea-pig... And guess what? She is doing great, getting all the best parts of the salad and cucumber.