Mid July Updates
Dear Readers,
The projects I have aligned for this summer is getting intense. I have most of the information but now I need to pull it together in a readable form. “I love it when a plan comes together” A team.
For the environmental project I was going to use both Germany and China as models for land use scale. Germany is fine because its structure makes sense. I am trying to fill the holes in the Chinese model. There is a lot missing. I do not know whether I should read more or I should find a different Chinese model to work with. Most models I read are based on regional or municipal models. The Chinese model seems to be, but I can not find any details on the exact specifications. It might come to abandoning that model and choosing a different model.
For the Eritrea-Ethiopia project, I am still having difficulties organizing the information. There is a lot of information. I organized it by value but that didn’t work out so well. I am now trying to organize it by claim. Also I was unable to find any useful books on the topic. Perhaps a reason why Professor Combs wants to write a book.
Work sometimes drags. I call these days “same form days” where all you see is the same form. These days normally are Mondays because what happens is Sunday is actually Monday in China so the Chinese branch works and faxes you a lot of material Sunday. Your Monday morning is their Monday night. Okay I am confusing myself. I will just stop at that. But Fridays are generally hard work days too.
One of the things I love about living in the city is just walking around. You never know what you are going to see or who. Oh and all the fun classes you can take if you have time. I am trying to take drawing classes this summer. I really miss drawing.
As a tidbit I will talk about the importance of meet and greets in Asian culture. It is very important to meet with the people you normally talk with. Once every three to four months the Senior lawyers travel to meet their clients. Many high level attorneys travel half the world to meet clients. American law firms are expected to do the same (most notably to the Beijing and Shanghai branches). The meet and greet has even greater importance in patent and trademark law. Often, most of the work is done through email. Asian culture requires face to face interactions. Japan values the meet and greet as much as China. I remember last year when two patent lawyers form Japan traveled to the U.S. to meet with us. The meet and greet was very ceremonious.
Another mannerism that is a combination of Chinese culture and patent work is the need to respond quickly once you have something to report (and sometimes even when you have nothing new to report). Patents are time sensitive, once a fax or an email comes, a response is normally sent within a few hours. Even when the due date for a response isn’t for many months, an email or letter is sent immediately once the due date becomes apparent. Several reminders are sent periodically.
I am excited to do some traveling with job fairs and interviews. Although I am already in a wonderful city it would be great to explore other cities.
best regards,
Tony Guo