Some questions occured to me the other day while driving across town during the rush hour. In Taiwan, rush hour traffic is directed by taxi drivers who park up their cabs and stand in the middle of busy intersections, risking their lives and sanity for the greater good.

On this occasion I was coming from a conversation about motivation and commitment, and how they are often lacking in employees in 'normal' jobs. But watching these guys made me realise that the problem is not universal. There are people in Taiwan who make extraordinary efforts to do a good job, but we often don't notice them. So here are a few observations about taxi drivers directing traffic: 

I've been talking a lot recently with Elias about how we use technology in our professional lives: diaries, contact lists, mails, SMS, networking, etc.

It's especially relevant to me because I use the Enspyre virtual office service to increase my efficiency and maintain the highest level of customer service possible. I have a secretary in an office and I'm constantly on the move, just like many other small business people. All of the data we both need has to be organised, accessible, and used to best advantage - but I constantly find myself screaming because I can't do things that I know I should be able to.

It's a question of making technologies work together in a way that can be replicated by anyone even without the resources of a major company behind them - and without signing up to a service that ties you to one particular company. So we've decided to commit to achieving a few goals before my birthday in September: 

Last month I created a mailing list of absolutely everyone I know, have ever met, or even just happened to exchange emails or business cards with. The goal was to start the process of bringing my "relationship management" under control.

You can think of it as updating my Christmas card list, or as internet marketing, it's the same thing. We keep in contact with people in order to maintain relationships that are rewarding to us in some way. The rewards can be friendship, business, favours, anything. If you don't talk to people then you don't maintain the relationship. By using technology we should be better able to manage these relationships - at least that's what they tell us then they sell us this stuff - so I decided to give it a go. The result was a semi-disaster that I'm still trying to fix, but let me briefly mention some of the good that came of it.

The first issue of the "Learning English" newsletter was delayed because we all got very excited while discussing what to include, and the list of topics just kept on growing. We've decided to limit it to just "Myths About Learning English" - there are plenty of them in Taiwan and we have lots to say on this topic. For starters, read the statement below and decide what you think:

"The education system in Taiwan is not very good and local teachers don't speak good English. Taiwanese people can usually write good English, but don't speak well and are afraid to try because we don't have much chance to practise. And we do badly in international tests because they always talk about subjects we don't study. The tests are created for people from a European background. I need to find a foreign teacher who will correct my mistakes and teach me more vocabulary so that I can produce better English sentences. Good English sentences are long and use lots of idioms. If I know lots of slang my English will be more like a native-speaker."

Most Taiwanese people agree with most of what is written above, but in fact it's all untrue. In the next few weeks we will be sending you short articles that will PROVE this. It will be interesting to see what you think, and what your friends think, so please tell everyone you know to sign up for the newsletters!

I had a really positive experience yesterday, which gives me hope for Taiwan's future.

One of the really annoying things about living in Taiwan is that the government seems to think 'foreigners' are all temporary visitors who come to teach, study, or buy something for a year or two and then 'go home'. Taiwan can never be home. You are prevented from doing a lot of things that ordinary Taiwanese take for granted, such as having normal banking facilities or taking part in governent programs designed to help the economy.

Aiyo! I sat up late on Sunday trying to make a video for the best trip in Taiwan competition . It's amazing how long this stuff takes, but it's getting easier as I learn more about it.

The deal is: a team comprising at least one foreigner must submit a proposal for a 4-day trip in Taiwan. The focus of the trip is adventure, and cost-effectiveness. You have to assign a clear theme, write your proposal, and also submit a one-minute video introducing yourselves. Here's what we came up with....

I woke up hungry this morning and decided to try a restaurant I've heard a lot about - The Diner.

Looking on their website, the food looks great, and we arrrived to find that many other people have reached the same conclusion.

The place was absolutely packed! Bear in mind, this was at 11am on a Monday, not the busiest day of the week nor the busiest time of day, but it was completely full all the same.

We checked with the waitress, and discovered that we *might* be able to get a table in 45 minutes, which was too long for me and we ended up going somewhere else.

But it's worth commenting on the fact that some businesses are doing amazingly well, despite the things that people keep telling me about the economy. There is obviously a market for quality and these guys are  doing very well out of it.

l'll be back

I've just had a nightmare couple of weeks following the sudden death of my computer.

Email, contact books, lesson plans, photographs, music, all of it disappeared just as I had an urgent deadline to meet and I spent a week sweating as I tried to finish a 25-page report without access to my archive. Driving down  the street, cursing myself for not making a backup, I saw a sign outside a church reminding me that "Jesus Saves" - the smug bastard!

Still, then final result was a fairly hefty upgrade to the useless machine, and a whole bunch of new capabilities. While i was focused on my IT I took a little time out to try Goosync, and am pretty impressed with the result.