A colleague and I have headed off to China for about two weeks. We'll visit Beijing for a day, then head to Shenzhen to coordinate the SIMM 08 show and return through Beijing. The start has been, shall we say, inauspicious. Flying from Washington through JFK in New York to Beijing, we had about 3 hours to spend at JFK. So I thought, lets see what there is to eat and figure out how to navigate the airport. After you figure out that the airport is classified as The Port Authority of New York, the website is very helpful at first glance...however the link to airport map says "update coming soon" - sure.

Bottom line: Terminal 7 - Only a food court. OK. Fast forward 17 hours to arrival in Beijing - 2 days before the opening of the new Capital Airport Terminal so no gates available - let me tell you, there are a lot of steps down from a 747! Luggage delivery note: 2 people, 4 bags checked. Success rate 75%. Not so good for my colleague. And so it begins.

I spent last Thursday and Friday at AMT's Technology Forum in Orlando, Florida. No, I did not get any sun. It rained most of the time, but it wasn't depressing at all. Despite media pronouncements, manufacturing is alive and well and excited about some of the most significant developments in years. MT Connect was the main discussion thread. A speaker described MT Connect as the Rosetta Stone of manufacturing. With a general introduction at IMTS the future of technology is here soon!

Alstom is a large French multinational conglomerate whose businesses are power generation, railway signaling and manufacturing trains. With nearly 70,000 employees and annual sales around the 16 billion euro mark, it's one of the largest transportation manufacturing companies in the world.

The name of the company derives from the region of Alsace and the surname of the engineer Elihu Thomson. Original named, Alsthom (with an H), the H was dropped when it went public. The French never pronounced the "th" sound and English speakers would naturally attempt to force the "th" sound on the name - and they didn't want any of that happening.

Regardless of the name and how it sounds, Alstom has been doing quite well since the beginning of 2008. Check out their most recent press releases announcing newly won contracts and planned renovations.

Trains of all kinds, steam, electric and otherwise seem endlessly fascinating. There are plenty of homemade train options on Makzine. With spring around the corner, it might be time to go out into the garage and start fiddling with your own designs.