Translation of "Looking forward (only 263 weeks left)"

As requested by Pranav, a good friend of Sphinx, I translated one of article "Looking forward (only 263 weeks left)" from my Chinese blog "333 weeks" (original). So here it is, enjoy!

"April was a long long month.

I spent most of my time on solving technical problems.  With great help of colleagues, we finally got all issues resolved.  I also start to put some time into new tasks.  The Boston Marathon Explosion was tough for everyone, but we kind of having closure now.  As for investment, mine is in pace with S&P.  The weather is also getting better.  Do we finally feel spring again?

I think the interesting part in April is that I spent more time in writing, may it be blogging, articles.  I wrote quite a bit even when I was busy.  I mentioned the Selection of Cumulomaniac.  At this
stage, I am copyediting and proofreading the drafts.  It's a good thing to write and blog as I love to connect with the like-minds."

Arthur

My Chinese Blogs : Cumulomaniac and 333 Weeks

Foreword

I hadn't updated this blog for a while.   April had been a long month and the whole Boston Marathon Explosion was difficult for me.   I end up spending quite a bit of time to work on my other blogs such as Cumulomanic and 333 weeks.   If you go click them, they are all in Chinese.    In the past, it was okay, but recently there are more and more friends of mine asking me what the whole thing is about.    So it might deserves some explanation. 

Cumulomaniac

Cumulomaniac is more of my personal photography and writing blog.  From time to time, I go take pictures of clouds around Boston and shared it with my friends in Hong Kong.  You know Hong Kong?  It's probably hard for my American friends to even start to imagine if they only watch Jackie Chan's movie:   I used to live in a 500 square feet room with a pitiful size of bathroom and kitchen.  It's called 500 sq feets but it feels like 300 sq feets because over the years my family has piled tons of stuffs there. 

 

The place I lived in Hong Kong, called Sham Shui Po, locate close to a flea market and a computer shopping malls.  That's perhaps why I am in love with gadgets in the first place.  

For this context, the most important thing you should know is that there is no skyline in Hong Kong.   So it was a big change when I first to the States.  I guess there is a reason to share my friends with "my sky".  

Startup Employee 333 Weeks 

As you might know, I am working on yet another startup, Voci with some great minds graduated from Carnegie Mellon.   When I took up the job, I decided to stay with this company for a while.   I set the time to be 333 weeks.   So the blog Startup Employee 333 weeks chronicled my story in the company.  

I chose to write in Chinese because it is yet another blog topic which was discussed to the death by American bloggers.   In Hong Kong/China though, there are still many people living in a bureaucratic system and live their lives as big companies' employees, they might not very familiar with how "startupers" work and live.  There are also much misunderstanding from people who work in a normal traditional job on startup.  

My focus in 333 Weeks is usually project management, communication and issues when you work in a startup.   Those are what we programmers called "soft stuffs" so I seldom like to bring them up in The Grand Janitor's Blog. 

Why Didn't you Write Them In English?

I gave partial answers in the above paragraphs.  In general, my rule of blog writings is to make sure my message are targeted to a well-defined niche group.    The Grand Janitor is really for speech professionals while 333 weeks are written for aspiring start up guys.    So that's pretty much sum up why you don't see my other messages in the past?

Another (rather obvious) reason is my English.   My English writing has never quite caught up with my Chinese writing.   Don't get me wrong.  I write English way faster than Chinese.   I also write a lot.   The issue is that I never feel I can embellish my articles with English phrases as I do with Chinese phrases.   

It changes quite a bit recently as I feel my English writing has improved.   (May be because I hanged out with a bunch of comedians lately. :) )  But I still feel some topics are better to be written in a certain language.   

Hopefully this can be changed in near future.  In fact,  Pranav Jawale, a good friend of Sphinx, has recently interested in one article I wrote in 333 weeks.  And I am going to translate it soon.  

If you are interested in any articles I wrote in Chinese, feel free too tell me.  I can always translate them and put it to GJB. 

Arthur