Move over Rice-a-Roni, cause I seem to be the new the king of San Fran. Just in case you didn't know, I am in San Francisco, to be more specific, South San Francisco for a couple of days. Some highlights from the trip thus far:
-Flight was delayed over 3 hours in Shanghai, not a fun start to the trip.
-Gas prices are insane, the first gas station I passed had one gallon of regular for $3.79, that is just not right.
-Due to the very very record setting long first round of the draft, despite my 3 hour flight delay, I was still able to get to my hotel room to see the Baltimore Ravens select Ben Grubbs from Auburn University in the first round of the draft. Not too flashy of a pick, but a need for the Ravens. They have used the last couple of drafts to build up their line, so next year they will be able to focus on flashier positions. I was going to rant about the Ravens not addressing their quarterback need, but they drafted QB Troy Smith in the 5th round, which should end up being interesting, not saying he will ever be good enough to start, but he definitely will add something to this team.
-Hotel room is awesome, leaps and bounds above even the best hotel room I have stayed in in China.
-Little Lucca's in South San Francisco makes a really really good sandwich. Stood in line for about 1/2 an hour, but it was worth the wait, that sandwich was indeed one of the best that I have had in a really long time. (Big enough that it was both my lunch and dinner, although I probably should have spread it out to 3 or 4 meals).
-I wanted to get a couple of CD's while here in the States, I picked The Killer's CD and the Silversun Pickups CD. Basically I heard Lazy Eye from the Silversun Pickups as I was pulling into Target, so naturally I decided this was my sign to buy the CD.
-My List, track 9 from The Killer's CD, not sure I totally identified these guys as glamour rockers from their first album, but this song alone reminds me of everything that was Queen. This album is a really good album, they hold to what they are good at, forget the critics, this one is a good listen.
-Birthplace of Biotechnology - South San Francisco identifies itself as this, I think all of the Biotech firms have moved out of this area by now, but I guess it is their claim to fame.
-In and Out Burger, actually Five Guys is better, but they still do a good job.
-Americans are really fat!!! Yes I mentioned two food places above, that probably doesn't help my cause, but when you live in a country full of people who are skin and bones, it becomes really obvious when you are passing people that have serious health problems. Listen I am not the skinniest guy in the world, but its hard to not notice the weight problems Americans have.
Okay, back to business.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
The Funkiest Bunch
Relevant Magazine (best magazine out there) has a podcast that they do once a week, if you haven't checked it out then you're really missing out. Probably the best non-sports podcast out there in my opinion. Anyway, they do an editorial question of the week each week and as a part of it, you can write in your response to the question of the week. Well this past week's podcast asked, "If you could have a funky bunch, who would be in it and why?" So below is my email response to them and is truly the best funky bunch ever (note that the funky bunch should be no more then 4 people other then yourself and they had to be people that they would know about, so a best friend or scary uncle wouldn't work):
Besides myself, the brains of the operations, my bunch would consist of the following people, each chosen because their traits bring out the best in everyone all over the world:
1. Takeru Kobayashi - you may not recognize the name, but maybe if I call him "The Tsunami" you may be familiar. Yes, he is none other then the reigning Nathan's Hot Dogs eating champion. He would be my number one go to guy, my right hand man if you must. You see I always find myself in a bind cause whenever I hit a diner I seem to order like 53 hot dogs, and well I usually eat two and want to roll out, so that's where my man Kobayashi comes in, when it would be time to go and there would still be like 51 hot dogs on the plate, Kobayashi would attack the plate and down the rest in around 3 minutes 22 seconds, so by the time we pull up our money ride, he would hop right in ready to hit up the town.
2. David Blaine - Sketchy to many I admit, but when I just need to see someone do some fake levitation I can be like, "Yo Dave, get out of that ice cube and levitate." Plus, he would be our money maker as he would ask everyone we would pass, "Is this your card? Now give me $100!"
3. Any really good Break Dancer - Basically when we walk into a room with Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch playing, we would need someone to always be dancing, and the only good dancing out there is break dancing. He would also be able to scare off our rival funky bunch from the other side of the tracks that would always want to bring us down in the form of a break dancing contest.
4. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - While very smart I admit, his role would be more of our token diplomat in the bunch. After speeding in our 1985 Box Ferrari through a school zone at a cool 25mph and being pulled over by a cop, Ban (or Bandit as we would call him) would whip out his official diplomat card saying "I'm flossing the Dip Card, Now Hate That!!!" and get all charges dropped.
Now wouldn't that be the quintessential funky bunch, no one, and I mean no one, would mess with the likes of us.
1. Takeru Kobayashi - you may not recognize the name, but maybe if I call him "The Tsunami" you may be familiar. Yes, he is none other then the reigning Nathan's Hot Dogs eating champion. He would be my number one go to guy, my right hand man if you must. You see I always find myself in a bind cause whenever I hit a diner I seem to order like 53 hot dogs, and well I usually eat two and want to roll out, so that's where my man Kobayashi comes in, when it would be time to go and there would still be like 51 hot dogs on the plate, Kobayashi would attack the plate and down the rest in around 3 minutes 22 seconds, so by the time we pull up our money ride, he would hop right in ready to hit up the town.
2. David Blaine - Sketchy to many I admit, but when I just need to see someone do some fake levitation I can be like, "Yo Dave, get out of that ice cube and levitate." Plus, he would be our money maker as he would ask everyone we would pass, "Is this your card? Now give me $100!"
3. Any really good Break Dancer - Basically when we walk into a room with Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch playing, we would need someone to always be dancing, and the only good dancing out there is break dancing. He would also be able to scare off our rival funky bunch from the other side of the tracks that would always want to bring us down in the form of a break dancing contest.
4. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - While very smart I admit, his role would be more of our token diplomat in the bunch. After speeding in our 1985 Box Ferrari through a school zone at a cool 25mph and being pulled over by a cop, Ban (or Bandit as we would call him) would whip out his official diplomat card saying "I'm flossing the Dip Card, Now Hate That!!!" and get all charges dropped.
Now wouldn't that be the quintessential funky bunch, no one, and I mean no one, would mess with the likes of us.
IN: The NFL DRAFT. I think I could write 15 pages on this, but I will spare you. Some people hate the NFL Draft, but I guarantee it gets better ratings then any other weekend program (at least the first round). I understand that all it is is a bunch of names being called, but to me it is the time for teams to build themselves into champions through taking a chance at picking up a young athlete they have a feeling is going to be good in the future. I swear I could sit in front of the TV during both days and watch the whole draft, I mean the whole thing. It is so intriguing to see what my team, what rival teams, what teams that I will not watch one game this season do and how they will fill in the gaps for their needs. I really love the draft, it is a new beginning for some teams, and a rebuilding for those that are already at the top or near the top. Too bad I will be busy this weekend (yes I will be in the States, but I have other things to do), I might stop and watch 1 or 2 hours, but I do have plans. I can't wait to get back to the States and plan a guys weekend where all we do is eat and watch the draft, that will be awesome.
OUT: As predicted by me in an earlier post, Rosie O'Donnell is out, way out, and I hope she is never back in. She claims that she did not re-up with ABC cause of contract disputes, but we know the real reason, they recognized the fact that she is crazy.
Did I just get dirtier?
Right now I am in the middle of nowhere China, to be a little more exact I am about 30km outside of Shijiazhuang (capital of the Hebei province), in total I am about 150km away from Beijing. I arrived at an airport that literally has 5 places for planes to dock, we were the only plane that had arrived that afternoon and the airport had no one in it except for the passengers that just arrived along with myself. It was by far the smallest airport I had ever been to in my life.
I got to our hotel last night after working a little to find that it was the absolute dirtiest hotel room I have ever stayed in. The bathroom was utterly disgusting and the rest of the room was pretty filthy. I have been in hotels in remote places here in China before, but they were bearable, this one has taken the cake. I didn't bring my camera, so I can't show any pictures, but I think you would be sick to your stomach if you saw pictures. The room has a nice strong odor of smoke (non-smoking rooms basically don't exist here in China, so all my clothes smell like I have been sitting at a seedy bar somewhere). I chose to take a shower this morning and am currently questioning whether I would have been cleaner had I not taken the shower, that's how bad the bathroom is. To put it in perspective, I believe the bathroom was original supposed to be white tile, but now it not only has a nice yellow layer of crust, it also has areas that are dirtier then the dirt roads outside of the hotel. Listen, when we were younger, my dad thought it would be a good idea to stay at the South of the Border Hotel, well that hotel room was pretty bad (the worst I've seen in the States), but this one is much much worse.
So to those of you in the States, think of all the goodness you have in at least having the option of a non-smoking room and knowing that even in the most remote areas of the country that you are able to get a half decent hotel room.
I got to our hotel last night after working a little to find that it was the absolute dirtiest hotel room I have ever stayed in. The bathroom was utterly disgusting and the rest of the room was pretty filthy. I have been in hotels in remote places here in China before, but they were bearable, this one has taken the cake. I didn't bring my camera, so I can't show any pictures, but I think you would be sick to your stomach if you saw pictures. The room has a nice strong odor of smoke (non-smoking rooms basically don't exist here in China, so all my clothes smell like I have been sitting at a seedy bar somewhere). I chose to take a shower this morning and am currently questioning whether I would have been cleaner had I not taken the shower, that's how bad the bathroom is. To put it in perspective, I believe the bathroom was original supposed to be white tile, but now it not only has a nice yellow layer of crust, it also has areas that are dirtier then the dirt roads outside of the hotel. Listen, when we were younger, my dad thought it would be a good idea to stay at the South of the Border Hotel, well that hotel room was pretty bad (the worst I've seen in the States), but this one is much much worse.
So to those of you in the States, think of all the goodness you have in at least having the option of a non-smoking room and knowing that even in the most remote areas of the country that you are able to get a half decent hotel room.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Can you spare a square?
I still don't know what day was Earth Day, but I do know it just passed recently. I also know that the singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow originally suggested that we use only one square of toilet paper per use, in the latest news it is suggested that she was merely making a joke. Yes, I'm sure she was just joking, cause as we all know, using one square would be impossible for many of us Americans. Just the thought of what goes into our bodies and then how that is formed into what comes out makes me want to pull the toilet paper to a length of at least 2 feet per hit and, without getting too personal, we all know that one hit is not enough (a line that was ironically used a lot on April 20th).
Let me give my quick 2 cents on the environment, listen we can all do something to make a difference, I don't agree that we celebrate this day to try to get people to do something little that will save the environment. Yes a little bit helps, I am even seriously considering adding solar panels to my roof back home, but I'll be the first to admit this is more to save money rather then the environment. Changes have to be made on a much larger scale, it can't be just telling people, hey get out and walk to the store or reuse that bath water or stuff like that. No doubt if more people do this, it can help, but it still wouldn't be enough to make any kind of impact. There's another day for me to get into solutions, but I don't think we can solve everything without people's minds being changed, and even though there are some things that would help to slow down pollution out there, people are not yet ready to embrace these ideas.
IN: I can't believe I am saying this, Alex Rodriguez (hold on, I am currently vomiting in my mouth, wait...okay I got it back down). A-Rod plays for, in my opinion, the team that is most closely related to scum of the earth, so being associated with it makes him one of its own. But I can't deny the fact that he has hit 14 homers thus far in April and is having a really really good April. Pujols did similar last year, and got hurt, so I am not saying that A-Rod should be handed the MVP right now, I am merely acknowledging that if anything is actually "IN" in the MLB, A-Rod would be it. I am not sure why fans hate him so much, he does seem a little cocky, but you can't hate him for the money he makes and he is a really good player (until October). So A-Rod, I don't wish any injuries on you, but I really hope you go into a deep slump until January of 2010.
OUT: Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump's feud, in fact anything related to Rosie O'Donnell (Donald Trump still has some things that could be considered "IN", the Apprentice not being one of them). I don't understand celebrities, and I especially don't understand their feuds. But why Rosie would use some stupid women's Matrix Awards ceremony to continue the war of words with the Don is just plain childish. Rosie is legitimately crazy (comments over her whole career can attest to this), so why Donald would even want to get involved is beyond me, but I don't even get why anyone would report words between these two. I really hope Rosie doesn't renew with The View so I don't have to hear her blabber anymore and I really hope this is the last season of The Apprentice, so we don't have to hear Donald say "You're Fired" again (I mean really, it was good season 1, maybe 2, but now it is foolish). **UPDATE** So Rosie didn't renew for The View, its official, she must have read my blog, and if I am a psychic, then sorry Donald.
Let me give my quick 2 cents on the environment, listen we can all do something to make a difference, I don't agree that we celebrate this day to try to get people to do something little that will save the environment. Yes a little bit helps, I am even seriously considering adding solar panels to my roof back home, but I'll be the first to admit this is more to save money rather then the environment. Changes have to be made on a much larger scale, it can't be just telling people, hey get out and walk to the store or reuse that bath water or stuff like that. No doubt if more people do this, it can help, but it still wouldn't be enough to make any kind of impact. There's another day for me to get into solutions, but I don't think we can solve everything without people's minds being changed, and even though there are some things that would help to slow down pollution out there, people are not yet ready to embrace these ideas.
IN: I can't believe I am saying this, Alex Rodriguez (hold on, I am currently vomiting in my mouth, wait...okay I got it back down). A-Rod plays for, in my opinion, the team that is most closely related to scum of the earth, so being associated with it makes him one of its own. But I can't deny the fact that he has hit 14 homers thus far in April and is having a really really good April. Pujols did similar last year, and got hurt, so I am not saying that A-Rod should be handed the MVP right now, I am merely acknowledging that if anything is actually "IN" in the MLB, A-Rod would be it. I am not sure why fans hate him so much, he does seem a little cocky, but you can't hate him for the money he makes and he is a really good player (until October). So A-Rod, I don't wish any injuries on you, but I really hope you go into a deep slump until January of 2010.
OUT: Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump's feud, in fact anything related to Rosie O'Donnell (Donald Trump still has some things that could be considered "IN", the Apprentice not being one of them). I don't understand celebrities, and I especially don't understand their feuds. But why Rosie would use some stupid women's Matrix Awards ceremony to continue the war of words with the Don is just plain childish. Rosie is legitimately crazy (comments over her whole career can attest to this), so why Donald would even want to get involved is beyond me, but I don't even get why anyone would report words between these two. I really hope Rosie doesn't renew with The View so I don't have to hear her blabber anymore and I really hope this is the last season of The Apprentice, so we don't have to hear Donald say "You're Fired" again (I mean really, it was good season 1, maybe 2, but now it is foolish). **UPDATE** So Rosie didn't renew for The View, its official, she must have read my blog, and if I am a psychic, then sorry Donald.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Oh how I've missed you blog
So much went on since my last non-parent trip related blog entry, let's see....what to talk about....hmmm, Imus...nope old news, Virginia Tech shooting....too early to say anything funny about (actually when I am in a more serious mood, gun control and how hard it is for any kind of immigrant students to fit in in the US schools will be subjects of blogs), NHL playoffs....wait, isn't it an oxymoron to say that the NHL playoffs is news?, NBA playoffs...to early, Oden and Durant going pro....did anyone doubt this?, Earth Day....I don't care about this, oh I know, my dinner last night....perfect.
After church we headed off to Cafe Du Monde, a nice restaurant that serves New Orleans style food. This is our second adventure to this place since it opened close to our house about a month ago. The food isn't the best ever, but it is very good and I especially love the fact that I can get a sandwich that is on par with sandwiches in the US (the Chinese haven't yet mastered the whole taking fresh meat and putting it in between two slices of fresh bread with some choice condiments to go with it). We were there with friends last night, British friends, who I had to try to explain what kind of food New Orleans style food is....conclusion to that conversation was that I really couldn't (I did my best, I said it is a nice cross of French food and Caribbean Island spices, but I don't think that is okay). My wife and I shared a shrimp po' boy (as seen above) and it was very good. The place was empty (consistent with our last meal), which is unfortunate, but I guess even if you have good to great food, if you don't have a crowd willing to fill your place you won't do well. A good thing about owning a restaurant in Shanghai is the fact that your overhead is very low so that you can survive a pretty long time on just a little bit of business (rent, labor, and electricity is next to nothing compared to the States). It was really raining hard last night so its hard to say if that had a factor with things being slow. Anyway, if you actually do live in Shanghai and are in Pudong this is a nice place for a family to head to when you are looking for a good quiet meal.
IN: Plaid - I hate plaid, but if the GAP and other fine mall retail shops have anything to do with it (and they definitely do), your eyes will be experiencing weird depth perception problems as a result of a slew of people wearing plaid this summer (Am I the only one that has these depth perception problems, I mean all those lines and squares and things, if someone is wearing a plaid jacket I can't tell if their coming or going). So remember, you heard it hear first, plaid will be the men's fashion this summer, so all you cool fashionable people (me not being one of them as I still enjoy my carpenter corduroy pants ala 2004), go out and buy up your plaid shorts and shoes so that you can throw them away in September when it goes back our of style.
OUT: Alec Baldwin's parenting skills - I have kids, two of them, neither of them are older then 3 and I can confirm that kids can push your limits of tolerance, but leaving a phone message like he did is just wrong. I understand that he never gets to see his daughter, I understand that his only communication with her is over the phone at an agreed upon time that may not be the most convenient to his schedule, and I understand that his daughter most likely saw that it was her dad calling from an unknown number on her phone so she didn't pick up, but Alec, this is not a way to react to your 11 year old daughter. Alec Baldwin has had a history of anger management issues and is reported to not be the nicest guy in the world. A couple of things that are really disturbing about the call: 1. He wasn't sure the age of his daughter, he first said 12 and then tried to correct himself by saying 11 2. He called her names that are just inappropriate for a father to be calling a daughter of any age let along an 11 year old daughter 3. He mentioned his former wife in a very unpleasant manner, if he was mad at her leave a message for her not for his daughter.
Bottom line, yelling and screaming and calling your kids names is not the best way to parent. Again, I understand how frustrating things can get (I am a parent), but that is not the way to parent, if you go through with having kids you have to be ready to sacrifice things in your life to make sure you are there for them while they are growing up.
On another note, I'm glad that blog and I have reunited, hopefully we can stay together for a little while longer this time around.
Fill in the Blank: My blog has become _________________.
I have not kept my word, nope, I said I would keep a day to day update of my parents visit, but alas, I did not. Let me give you the brief synopsis of what went on since my last posting of Day 2:
Day 3 - Is he pulling a knife on me?
My wife has become locally famous for her harsh negotiating skills, especially when it comes to buying a fake pair of Oakley sunglasses. Yes, we headed to one of the New XiangYang Markets, this one in particular is the one in the Science & Technology Museum to load up on fake clothes and other accessories. My mom loaded up on a bunch of fake polo and lacoste kid's shirts to sell at her store (she bought them for around $5USD and plans to sell them for $20USD, not too shabby). Besides all the fun negotiating that went on, the only real exciting thing that went on was when I was negotiating for my aunt for some chinese wine covers for her friends. The guy started the negotiations at a particularly high level, my boyish white face translates to "stupid American who has a lot of money that he will spend at my shop," this of course doesn't help me in the starting price, but I hold my own. So I settled in at a price about 1/6 of where he started. He then took his right hand and made a motion like he was slitting his throat (symbolic that my price was killing him). So he then lowered his price pretty significantly, and, true to my negotiating form, I came back with the same price as my first price. He then went over to a cabinet pulled out a knife, at this moment I just froze (I considered my life to be pretty lucky that through the first 26 years I did not have a knife pulled on me, now my life is officially heading downhill), he took the knife, turned it around so the sharp side was facing him, and pretended as if he were stabbing himself to death (a more poignant symbol that my price was killing him), so in the next round I did bring my price up a bit, but still made a pretty good deal. I look back on the whole knife thing and can laugh, but not sure if the guy will get many customers doing that.
Day 4 - A walk in the park
The biggest highlight of this day was our walk through Century Park. This park is a park that rivals the likes of Central Park in NYC. It has man made lakes and waterways, trees, walking paths, flowers, and a mini amusement park. The rents thought it was neat to have such a big place in the middle of the city and they enjoyed it. The best part about it was the rules sign in front of the bumper cars restricting "drunks, addicts, and psychopaths" from using the bumper cars. Yes those psychopaths can get rowdy on the bumper cars (I will take a picture the next time I am there).
Day 5 - Octopus on a stick!
We headed downtown in the morning to walk through the French Concessions and that area of Shanghai. We then took a taxi ride to the Wujiang Lu food street (as of the end of April this place will no longer exist so it was neat to be there one more time). We enjoyed some stir fried dumplings and also some nice barbecued octopus on a stick. This was my first experience with the sea ridden animal on a stick and it wasn't too bad, nothing that I would love to go back for, but not too bad.
Day 6 - Stealy Rain
I had to go into work in the morning, but in the meantime the rents headed to the children's fakes market where my mom wanted to buy some more clothes to sell at her store at some insane markup. My aunt wanted to see the museum, so with the rains a coming, this was the best day to see it. Her trip took a turn for the worse when her camera was stolen on her way to the museum (apart from my wife and the rents). Oh well, she said she wanted to get rid of that camera anyhow. We also visited the electronics market to buy her an 80 GB external hard drive and a 1GB memory card for my parents digital camera (got both for less then $80 USD, which isn't bad).
Day 7 - Bonnie and Cryde
We went to Suzhou on this day to see the awesome gardens and canal lined streets of this water town. This place is pretty cool, it has lost some of the luster of being an old water town as everything felt like a tourist trap, actually they say there are some water towns that are much better then this one so we might explore the other ones sometime in the future. The biggest story of this trip was on our way home an otherwise 1 1/2hour car ride took over 6 hours!!! Yes, earlier in the day there was some big bank heist where the robbers supposedly stole millions and millions of dollars in money and they were on the lose. China's reaction to this, shut down all the major highways and search every vehicle on its way into a major city. So we waited in a jam for over 4 hours (with two kids under 3, this is not fun, but they were really good considering) only to find the police would only glance in each car as it was forced to exit and then re-enter on the highway. While this could put a huge damper on the trip, we were able to shrug it off and look back on the day as a really fun day.
Day 8 - Relax under neon lights
We spent most of the day relaxing (recovering from the previous day), then in the early evening we had some dinner at Shanghai Uncle, which I thought was really good, not really Chinese food, a little rich, but good. We then headed downtown to Nanjing Road, which is famous for its neon lights lining the pedestrian street. If you have been to Tokyo, you probably are not impressed, but my parents have hardly been away from the east coast, so they really enjoyed it. My dad especially enjoyed being approached by very young attractive women (mostly college aged women) who would ask him if he was looking for a good time. To clarify, he would only be approached when he was walking alone (they seek out the single white men, ideally older single white men), and when they ask if he was looking for a good time what they actually meant was "do you want to come to a seedy bar with us so that we can get you drunk and steal your money or have someone beat you up for your money!" Not exactly the good time you might be looking for (by the way, you shouldn't be looking for that kind of good time anyway).
Day 9 - Heading home...Shanghai Style
The only thing left to do in Shanghai was to ride the Magnetic Levitation Train (Maglev) back to the Pudong airport. This thing is a nice and smooth ride that takes you 431km/h or about 270 miles per hour, so its pretty fast. They enjoyed that as their last thing to do in Shanghai, and headed back to the good ole USofA
So, that is my parents trip in a nutshell, sorry for the length, I will add some pictures in the future so that you get an idea as to some of things we saw. Also, for those of you who actually read, Renee is doing well now, she accompanied us on most of the adventures noted above, but did have somethings that she had to sit out on.
Anyway, back to the good ole days of my blog where I get to talk about nothing and everyone gets to enjoy my IN and OUT!!!
Day 3 - Is he pulling a knife on me?
My wife has become locally famous for her harsh negotiating skills, especially when it comes to buying a fake pair of Oakley sunglasses. Yes, we headed to one of the New XiangYang Markets, this one in particular is the one in the Science & Technology Museum to load up on fake clothes and other accessories. My mom loaded up on a bunch of fake polo and lacoste kid's shirts to sell at her store (she bought them for around $5USD and plans to sell them for $20USD, not too shabby). Besides all the fun negotiating that went on, the only real exciting thing that went on was when I was negotiating for my aunt for some chinese wine covers for her friends. The guy started the negotiations at a particularly high level, my boyish white face translates to "stupid American who has a lot of money that he will spend at my shop," this of course doesn't help me in the starting price, but I hold my own. So I settled in at a price about 1/6 of where he started. He then took his right hand and made a motion like he was slitting his throat (symbolic that my price was killing him). So he then lowered his price pretty significantly, and, true to my negotiating form, I came back with the same price as my first price. He then went over to a cabinet pulled out a knife, at this moment I just froze (I considered my life to be pretty lucky that through the first 26 years I did not have a knife pulled on me, now my life is officially heading downhill), he took the knife, turned it around so the sharp side was facing him, and pretended as if he were stabbing himself to death (a more poignant symbol that my price was killing him), so in the next round I did bring my price up a bit, but still made a pretty good deal. I look back on the whole knife thing and can laugh, but not sure if the guy will get many customers doing that.
Day 4 - A walk in the park
The biggest highlight of this day was our walk through Century Park. This park is a park that rivals the likes of Central Park in NYC. It has man made lakes and waterways, trees, walking paths, flowers, and a mini amusement park. The rents thought it was neat to have such a big place in the middle of the city and they enjoyed it. The best part about it was the rules sign in front of the bumper cars restricting "drunks, addicts, and psychopaths" from using the bumper cars. Yes those psychopaths can get rowdy on the bumper cars (I will take a picture the next time I am there).
Day 5 - Octopus on a stick!
We headed downtown in the morning to walk through the French Concessions and that area of Shanghai. We then took a taxi ride to the Wujiang Lu food street (as of the end of April this place will no longer exist so it was neat to be there one more time). We enjoyed some stir fried dumplings and also some nice barbecued octopus on a stick. This was my first experience with the sea ridden animal on a stick and it wasn't too bad, nothing that I would love to go back for, but not too bad.
Day 6 - Stealy Rain
I had to go into work in the morning, but in the meantime the rents headed to the children's fakes market where my mom wanted to buy some more clothes to sell at her store at some insane markup. My aunt wanted to see the museum, so with the rains a coming, this was the best day to see it. Her trip took a turn for the worse when her camera was stolen on her way to the museum (apart from my wife and the rents). Oh well, she said she wanted to get rid of that camera anyhow. We also visited the electronics market to buy her an 80 GB external hard drive and a 1GB memory card for my parents digital camera (got both for less then $80 USD, which isn't bad).
Day 7 - Bonnie and Cryde
We went to Suzhou on this day to see the awesome gardens and canal lined streets of this water town. This place is pretty cool, it has lost some of the luster of being an old water town as everything felt like a tourist trap, actually they say there are some water towns that are much better then this one so we might explore the other ones sometime in the future. The biggest story of this trip was on our way home an otherwise 1 1/2hour car ride took over 6 hours!!! Yes, earlier in the day there was some big bank heist where the robbers supposedly stole millions and millions of dollars in money and they were on the lose. China's reaction to this, shut down all the major highways and search every vehicle on its way into a major city. So we waited in a jam for over 4 hours (with two kids under 3, this is not fun, but they were really good considering) only to find the police would only glance in each car as it was forced to exit and then re-enter on the highway. While this could put a huge damper on the trip, we were able to shrug it off and look back on the day as a really fun day.
Day 8 - Relax under neon lights
We spent most of the day relaxing (recovering from the previous day), then in the early evening we had some dinner at Shanghai Uncle, which I thought was really good, not really Chinese food, a little rich, but good. We then headed downtown to Nanjing Road, which is famous for its neon lights lining the pedestrian street. If you have been to Tokyo, you probably are not impressed, but my parents have hardly been away from the east coast, so they really enjoyed it. My dad especially enjoyed being approached by very young attractive women (mostly college aged women) who would ask him if he was looking for a good time. To clarify, he would only be approached when he was walking alone (they seek out the single white men, ideally older single white men), and when they ask if he was looking for a good time what they actually meant was "do you want to come to a seedy bar with us so that we can get you drunk and steal your money or have someone beat you up for your money!" Not exactly the good time you might be looking for (by the way, you shouldn't be looking for that kind of good time anyway).
Day 9 - Heading home...Shanghai Style
The only thing left to do in Shanghai was to ride the Magnetic Levitation Train (Maglev) back to the Pudong airport. This thing is a nice and smooth ride that takes you 431km/h or about 270 miles per hour, so its pretty fast. They enjoyed that as their last thing to do in Shanghai, and headed back to the good ole USofA
So, that is my parents trip in a nutshell, sorry for the length, I will add some pictures in the future so that you get an idea as to some of things we saw. Also, for those of you who actually read, Renee is doing well now, she accompanied us on most of the adventures noted above, but did have somethings that she had to sit out on.
Anyway, back to the good ole days of my blog where I get to talk about nothing and everyone gets to enjoy my IN and OUT!!!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
The Second Day - The Release
Just to note, the second day of the trip is Friday. We headed out early in the morning to go into Lujiazui, which is the downtown financial district in Shanghai. Basically when you see any images of Shanghai, you will see the buildings located in Lujiazui including the Oriental Pearl Tower (balls on a stick building) and Jin Mao Tower (tallest hotel in the world). We walked along the riverside walkway, looked across the river and took some pictures of the Bund area across the river. We then decided to rough the dangerous white water of the Huangpu River via Ferry to get the Puxi side of town (the downtown area). Actually for about 10 US cents you can travel across the river on ferry and see the great sites while traveling on boat, pretty neat.
We went to Yu Yuan or Yu Garden, this place is surrounded by a bunch of shops that sell trinkets and fake antiques (does anyone want a Mao lighter for $3 bucks). The rents were pretty amazed with this place and all the people, they especially liked the Starbucks in the Yu Bazaar that was in this old Chinese style building. We then headed towards the actual garden, just my aunt and I went into the garden, as my parents wanted to stay outside with our daughter Maddie. The picture above is from the garden, it was a really nice garden, one of the better ones that I have seen in China, and one of the best in all of Shanghai.
While in the garden I got the call, the hospital was set to release Renee. So we piled into a cab and headed over to the hospital for the release. Renee was ecstatic to be getting out of the hospital (the hospital didn't have TV, not that she watches a lot of TV, but there is only so much you can do while you're sitting around in pain). Anyway, she enjoyed her first whiff of the pungent polluted air and smiled (actually once you've been here for a year, you get used to the toxins flying through the air). So we took it easy in the evening to help Renee relax some.
The First Day
As I mentioned before, my parents woke up at around 2:30 am on the first day of their visit. They managed to get a couple hours of sleep, but all in all they were pretty exhausted throughout the day (welcome to Shanghai). Fen, our Ayi here in Shanghai, arrived at around 8am, she made us a nice Chinese homemade breakfast of .... Crepes. After breakfast I decided to head to the hospital to visit with Renee and see how she was doing. In the meantime I had arranged for my parents to start their adventure by giving them massages, in fact the name of the massage was the Happy Landing massage (yes Happy Landing, I assume they know this is a play on words over here), they got the massages at the DragonFly Salon by our apartment.
After the massages, I met the rents back at the apartment, after lunch we headed downtown to visit with Renee. Renee was told that she had to stay another night (by the way the first day is Thursday), so after having family time with Renee we headed out to Xintiandi (pictured above). We walked around to see the sights around Xintiandi (avoided all the restaurants as they are mostly a tourist trap and overly expensive). We then head to a good Cantonese style restaurant on Huai Hai Road. The rents really enjoyed the meal and we all headed home on the subway full and happy that they had survived their first full day.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
They Arrive
As promised, I would keep you all updated on my parents visit. Well they arrived Wednesday evening here in Shanghai, and needless to say, they were exhausted and shocked. Probably most shocked that Renee was in the hospital with kidney stones (we didn't tell them because we didn't want them to panic). This is the first time that my parents have done significant traveling outside of the US, so I wanted to have them take it easy on the first evening. We arrived back at the apartment and they got settled, we talked, and then we all went to sleep (note that they slept only a couple of hours and were up at 2:30am), but this is only the start of their adventure.
Are you in pain or....
This post is a couple of days late, but I am trying to put things in chronological order so that you all can follow more easily. On Monday Renee started to experience significant pains in her kidney area. As a little bit of a background, she has had a history of kidney stones, so it was safe to assume that she was passing a stone. I rushed home from work to be able to take her to our local medical clinic. She was yelling and screaming from the immense pain, and, since we don't have a car, we had to wave down a taxi. After I dragged her into the cab, she continued to wail and scream from the pain. The taxi driver recognized this and began to swerve in and out of traffic to get the medical clinic as soon as possible. The biggest thing that I was concerned about was what the people on the streets were thinking when we drove by as Renee's painful screams were oddly similar to very suggestive and inappropriate screams. Basically I tried not to make eye contact with people when we would stop at stoplights.
When we arrived at the clinic, they gave her some pain meds, but decided it was best to send her to the inpatient hospital. So they called up an ambulance to take her to the hospital. The ambulances here are nothing like the ones in the States, rather the are eerily similar to the 1991 Toyota Previa pictured above. After loading her in I noted that the only equipment they had in the ambulance/minivan was a defibrillator, so if anything went wrong we were not going to be in good condition. The other thing I noted was that Renee's feet were right at the back door, which, much like the Previa's backdoor, was made up of 5 inches of some kind of light metal, so a hit from the back would basically paralyze my wife for life, now that's the kind of ambulance I really feel safe in.
Anyway, after being in and out of the hospital this whole week, I am happy to say that my wife is home. Now she still has some kidney stones to pass, but she is not in too much pain.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Writer's Block
All sorry for the lack of posts, I have been going through writer's block and just haven't had anything to write about. As I mentioned before my parents will be visiting Shanghai starting on Wednesday. I will keep you all updated on a day to day basis as my parents aren't big world travellers and will be encountering a lot of stuff for the first time. There will definitely be a shock and awe factor with them being over here, so I'm sure that will be interesting.
As a family, we celebrated Easter with "La Fiesta de Jesus." Yes, we had tacos for our Easter dinner (something a little different then your typical ham dinner). We had some friends over and just had a good ole taco bash after church on Sunday, so that was fun.
Again, writer's block has hit me, I will post again once my parents arrive.
As a family, we celebrated Easter with "La Fiesta de Jesus." Yes, we had tacos for our Easter dinner (something a little different then your typical ham dinner). We had some friends over and just had a good ole taco bash after church on Sunday, so that was fun.
Again, writer's block has hit me, I will post again once my parents arrive.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
I think I'm alive
I picked up this story from Shanghaiist and its just not right. This Chinese woman fell 6 stories onto a pile of Mr. Doo Doo Brown and survived. This story is wrong in many ways, but if I were a journalist the first two questions I would ask are "Do you consider yourself lucky to be alive after landing in poo?" and "Will you be forever grateful to your neighbors for doing their #2's?" Do you think they will make a statue for all to remember the rescuing poo? Not sure, but when they decide honor the poo for its heroics, it sure will be awkward.
Stadium Nicknames Part 1
As I have mentioned, I do not have too much interest in baseball, I am more of a casual fan. I know who is winning their division and the basics of how each team is doing, but I don't follow it like I would the NFL. That being said I still have a passion for nicknames, and in this case nicknaming ballparks. Yes, this is the first of two instalments that gives a nickname to every MLB team's ballpark, some are their real nicknames, others are the nicknames that they should be given, so beginning with the AL, here are the nicknames in alphabetical order by team:
ANAHEIM ANGELS OF LA: (I know it is the LA Angels of Anaheim, but this is a crime, they play in Anaheim and that is who they are)
Real Name: Angel Stadium
Nickname: Graceland
Is this copyrighted, cause if not they gots to use it, imagine the headline "Brawl in Graceland lands DeJesus on DL." **note** I know that David DeJesus plays for the Royals, in my imaginative scenario he starts the brawl at Graceland.
Other Names Considered: The Holy O (this could be very very dirty), Disney Land 2 and Cloud Nine
BALTIMORE ORIOLES:
Real Name: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Nickname: The Junk Yard
Note that the real nickname for this ballpark is The Yard, but that is too plain for me, especially for a team that has had losing records in its last 9 seasons. Just think with this nickname you could make shirts that say, "I got crabs at The Junk Yard", awesome.
Other Names Considered: The Vault's Red Headed Step Child, Purgatory, and The Crab Pit
BOSTON RED SOX:
Real Name: Fenway Park
Nickname: Fenway
Yes fans, this is just one of those parks that is sacred and the name should not be ruined by a lowly blogger like myself. Prior to the 'Sox winning the World Series there would have been a bunch of good names, but now alas, it is one of the few cool historical ballparks that one can sit and enjoy stepping on the peanut shells of a prior generation.
CHICAGO WHITE SOX:
Real Name: U.S Cellular Field
Nickname: The Cell
Easy one. The Cell is intimidating and also flows from the real name. I was thinking of calling it Dropped Balls (a play on the famed amount of dropped calls experienced by US Cellular customers), but I thought that could be taken wrongly in many different ways.
Other Names Considered: That Other Ballpark, The Not-so Wrigley Field and (what should have been the name) The New Comiskey
CLEVELAND INDIANS:
Real Name: Jacobs Field
Nickname: Poor Man's Camden Yard
I know that the real nickname is "The Jake," but that is lame-o. We all know that Cleveland called up the architects that designed Camden Yards and said we want something like that. Knowing that they were in Cleveland, the architects whited out the name Camden Yards and brought the blueprints of Camden Yards to show off to the city of Cleveland, low and behold they have Jacobs Field.
Other Names Considered: The Reservation and Burning River Park
DETROIT TIGERS:
Real Name: Comerica Park
Nickname: The CoPa Cabana
With the Tigers actually doing well, its hard to make fun of how bad they have been in recent history, so they deserve to have a decent name.
Other Names Considered: Unemployment Central, Bullet Proof Park and The Oasis
KANSAS CITY ROYALS:
Real Name: Kauffman Stadium
Nickname: The Sick
Kauffman is one of those names that lends itself to dealing with people that are unhealthy, and what a better team to have a sickly type name then the Kansas City Royals. Note that the people in Kansas City will think that outsiders will be using the term "The Sick" in a slang way meaning that the Royals are Awesome (or sick), but we all know it refers to how bad they are.
Other Names Considered: The Castle and The River Runs Through It
MINNESOTA TWINS:
Real Name: The Metrodome
Nickname: The Terrarium
A little lengthy, but makes everyone feel good when they think of their 3rd grade science class where they filled a two liter bottle of soda with dirt and called it a Terrarium (was anything supposed to happen with the dirt?). Anyway, about as much happens in the Metrodome as in a Terrarium, so I think it's a winner.
Other Names Considered: The Lake, Kirby Puckett's Good Eye, The Igloo
NEW YORK YANKEES:
Real Name: Yankee Stadium
Nickname: The Death Star
Yankess are referred to as the evil empire, thus they must play in the death star. Would have been more apt if they stadium were a dome and completely shaped like a ball, but hey, its not bad.
Other Names Considered: Guiliani's Fifth Wife, Babe's Boozery and That Damn Place
OAKLAND ATHLETICS:
Real Name: McAfee Coliseum
Nickname: Billy Beane's
This guy has put them on the map as a consistently competitive baseball team in a really bad baseball market. The ballpark deserves to be nicknamed after the pure genius of Billy Beane.
Other Names Considered: The Virus, The Other Side of the Tracks and Blue Screened
SEATTLE MARINERS:
Real Name: Safeco Field
Nickname: The Safe
I did think of this name myself, but I am not the first, this Seattle Weekly writer beat me to the punch, but I still did come up with it on my own.
Other Names Considered: The Rainout, The Emerald (sorry, nothing in Seattle is that funny)
TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS:
Real Name: Tropicana Field
Nickname: The Squeeze
Good for both a baseball reference and an orange reference.
Other Names Considered: The Empty Nest and Steve Irwin's Dive (is it too early? This reference is probably very wrong)
TEXAS RANGERS:
Real Name: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
Nickname: The Bush
Sorry, this was one of the last ballparks that I could think of a name, and it is by far the worst. The Bush's used to (or still do, I have not idea) have a stake in ownership, and on top of that the name can be used in many ways that teenagers can have fun with.
Other Names Considered: Lynch-burg, National Cemetery (would the real Arlington National Cemetery have a problem with this?)
TORONTO BLUE JAYS:
Real Name: Rogers Centre
Nickname: North of the Border
Nothing special here, but as the lone team "north of the border" I thought it would fit. My brain has officially shut down.
Other Names Considered: Canadia and The Ball Eater (reference to Blue Jays eating other birds eggs, again this really could be taken out of context)
ANAHEIM ANGELS OF LA: (I know it is the LA Angels of Anaheim, but this is a crime, they play in Anaheim and that is who they are)
Real Name: Angel Stadium
Nickname: Graceland
Is this copyrighted, cause if not they gots to use it, imagine the headline "Brawl in Graceland lands DeJesus on DL." **note** I know that David DeJesus plays for the Royals, in my imaginative scenario he starts the brawl at Graceland.
Other Names Considered: The Holy O (this could be very very dirty), Disney Land 2 and Cloud Nine
BALTIMORE ORIOLES:
Real Name: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Nickname: The Junk Yard
Note that the real nickname for this ballpark is The Yard, but that is too plain for me, especially for a team that has had losing records in its last 9 seasons. Just think with this nickname you could make shirts that say, "I got crabs at The Junk Yard", awesome.
Other Names Considered: The Vault's Red Headed Step Child, Purgatory, and The Crab Pit
BOSTON RED SOX:
Real Name: Fenway Park
Nickname: Fenway
Yes fans, this is just one of those parks that is sacred and the name should not be ruined by a lowly blogger like myself. Prior to the 'Sox winning the World Series there would have been a bunch of good names, but now alas, it is one of the few cool historical ballparks that one can sit and enjoy stepping on the peanut shells of a prior generation.
CHICAGO WHITE SOX:
Real Name: U.S Cellular Field
Nickname: The Cell
Easy one. The Cell is intimidating and also flows from the real name. I was thinking of calling it Dropped Balls (a play on the famed amount of dropped calls experienced by US Cellular customers), but I thought that could be taken wrongly in many different ways.
Other Names Considered: That Other Ballpark, The Not-so Wrigley Field and (what should have been the name) The New Comiskey
CLEVELAND INDIANS:
Real Name: Jacobs Field
Nickname: Poor Man's Camden Yard
I know that the real nickname is "The Jake," but that is lame-o. We all know that Cleveland called up the architects that designed Camden Yards and said we want something like that. Knowing that they were in Cleveland, the architects whited out the name Camden Yards and brought the blueprints of Camden Yards to show off to the city of Cleveland, low and behold they have Jacobs Field.
Other Names Considered: The Reservation and Burning River Park
DETROIT TIGERS:
Real Name: Comerica Park
Nickname: The CoPa Cabana
With the Tigers actually doing well, its hard to make fun of how bad they have been in recent history, so they deserve to have a decent name.
Other Names Considered: Unemployment Central, Bullet Proof Park and The Oasis
KANSAS CITY ROYALS:
Real Name: Kauffman Stadium
Nickname: The Sick
Kauffman is one of those names that lends itself to dealing with people that are unhealthy, and what a better team to have a sickly type name then the Kansas City Royals. Note that the people in Kansas City will think that outsiders will be using the term "The Sick" in a slang way meaning that the Royals are Awesome (or sick), but we all know it refers to how bad they are.
Other Names Considered: The Castle and The River Runs Through It
MINNESOTA TWINS:
Real Name: The Metrodome
Nickname: The Terrarium
A little lengthy, but makes everyone feel good when they think of their 3rd grade science class where they filled a two liter bottle of soda with dirt and called it a Terrarium (was anything supposed to happen with the dirt?). Anyway, about as much happens in the Metrodome as in a Terrarium, so I think it's a winner.
Other Names Considered: The Lake, Kirby Puckett's Good Eye, The Igloo
NEW YORK YANKEES:
Real Name: Yankee Stadium
Nickname: The Death Star
Yankess are referred to as the evil empire, thus they must play in the death star. Would have been more apt if they stadium were a dome and completely shaped like a ball, but hey, its not bad.
Other Names Considered: Guiliani's Fifth Wife, Babe's Boozery and That Damn Place
OAKLAND ATHLETICS:
Real Name: McAfee Coliseum
Nickname: Billy Beane's
This guy has put them on the map as a consistently competitive baseball team in a really bad baseball market. The ballpark deserves to be nicknamed after the pure genius of Billy Beane.
Other Names Considered: The Virus, The Other Side of the Tracks and Blue Screened
SEATTLE MARINERS:
Real Name: Safeco Field
Nickname: The Safe
I did think of this name myself, but I am not the first, this Seattle Weekly writer beat me to the punch, but I still did come up with it on my own.
Other Names Considered: The Rainout, The Emerald (sorry, nothing in Seattle is that funny)
TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS:
Real Name: Tropicana Field
Nickname: The Squeeze
Good for both a baseball reference and an orange reference.
Other Names Considered: The Empty Nest and Steve Irwin's Dive (is it too early? This reference is probably very wrong)
TEXAS RANGERS:
Real Name: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
Nickname: The Bush
Sorry, this was one of the last ballparks that I could think of a name, and it is by far the worst. The Bush's used to (or still do, I have not idea) have a stake in ownership, and on top of that the name can be used in many ways that teenagers can have fun with.
Other Names Considered: Lynch-burg, National Cemetery (would the real Arlington National Cemetery have a problem with this?)
TORONTO BLUE JAYS:
Real Name: Rogers Centre
Nickname: North of the Border
Nothing special here, but as the lone team "north of the border" I thought it would fit. My brain has officially shut down.
Other Names Considered: Canadia and The Ball Eater (reference to Blue Jays eating other birds eggs, again this really could be taken out of context)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
MLB Flushes Poo Poo O's
As I write this, the Orioles are about to take the field for the first time in 2007, and, for the first time in almost 30 years, they will be opening away from Baltimore. Actually I didn't know that it had been almost 30 years until I read this Baltimore Sun article, but when I heard that they were opening on the road I thought, "I don't remember the last time they opened on the road," I guess that's because they haven't in my lifetime. The MLB can tell us that it's because the Nationals are in town and they are trying to make it so that one team in the area has an opening day at home while the other opens on the road, but this just doesn't make sense. In the National's inaugural year, both the Nationals and the O's began the season at home. My theory, its just the fact that the O's are stinking it up, and the MLB is trying to get the best teams to start out at home, with the exception of the Royals (which confuses me, but I guess they have to start at home everyone once and a while), all the teams with home games the first day are the winners (Detroit, NY Yanks, Philly, Houston). I know the Nat's stunk it up last year, but I think the MLB is sticking it to Peter Angelos and the O's for fighting the whole Nat's thing.
It actually makes sense this way (am I agreeing with the MLB, well no, cause this is not a definitive rule, but I am saying that they should make it into one), if a team does well the previous season they deserve to start the season at home, it should be a part of the privilege of performing we...start out at home. Basically, the O's have played themselves into opening on the road, if they continue to stink then start them out on a long road trip, make them earn their way back to a home opening day. It definitely kills an opening day tradition, but it also gives a team one other small motivation to continue to fight all season long. By the way O's fans, next year the Nat's are opening up their new stadium, so there is a 0% chance the O's will open at home next year.
It actually makes sense this way (am I agreeing with the MLB, well no, cause this is not a definitive rule, but I am saying that they should make it into one), if a team does well the previous season they deserve to start the season at home, it should be a part of the privilege of performing we...start out at home. Basically, the O's have played themselves into opening on the road, if they continue to stink then start them out on a long road trip, make them earn their way back to a home opening day. It definitely kills an opening day tradition, but it also gives a team one other small motivation to continue to fight all season long. By the way O's fans, next year the Nat's are opening up their new stadium, so there is a 0% chance the O's will open at home next year.
Coming off the heals of a pretty nice NCAA tournament, just to review, went 4 for 4 on the final four and 1 for 2 on the finals (had Georgetown advancing, just trying to give them some Big East love), I guess you would love for me to give my predictions. Well, baseball is not my thing, and I really hate predicting who is going to win it all, but I will keep it local with the O's. They absolutely can't be worse then last year, unless afflicted by major injuries, their young players should be improved over last year, Peter Gammons has them in 3rd place in the AL East, whoa nelly, I'm not that bold, ESPN.com has them at 4th place in the AL East ending at 75-87, pretty safe prediction (last 3 season results: 2006: 70-92, 2005: 74-88, 2004: 78-84). I think the 9 season streak of having a losing season ends...next year, yes I don't think they will be quite there yet, but close. I am close to ESPN, but I think they will be right on the cusp of a winning season, finishing 4th in the AL East with a record of 80-82. This opening 6 game road trip against Minnesota, and NY Yanks, then a 3 game home opening against Detroit is going to haunt them come the end of the season, so they won't be able to make it over the hump quite yet. Nonetheless, O's prove me wrong, and earn that home opener.
IN: Popcorn, Orville Redenbacher would be proud to see his true baby coming back to life. People are putting down the chips and pretzels and starting to pop up the every fun and tasty popcorn. But this time its not just butter they are putting on their popped corn, toppings include cheese, old bay, jalapenos and sugar(kettle corn of course has grown in popularity outside of sketchy carnivals over the past couple of years). People also think popcorn is more healthy, but add butter flavoring, salt, sugar, and cheese and you basically have the equivalent to a chip. But congrats to popcorn for making it back to the limelight.
OUT: High executive pay - now I can write a whole diatribe on this one, but its a fact that executives of most large publicly traded companies make anywhere from 50-200 times the average workers salary, and that is simply insane. As you know I am for a free market, but sometimes you just have to pull in the reigns of a free market gone wild. There is no true justification for giving the executives this much in compensation, should they be compensated like superstars, absolutely, but some of these executives led company's with mediocre(if any) earnings and still get a grand payday (see Home Depot). Being a CEO and CFO is a privilege and they should get paid a lot for that privilege, but this should not be at the expense of the Company or its shareholders, in fact they do need to be held more accountable for the actions of the Company if the Company is under performing yet they are still taking massive checks to the bank. Just a thought that I will get into more later.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Missing Something?
I have discussed about how some things get lost in the translation from Chinese to English, but I hardly ever see a mistake when translating English to English. Well, without getting too dirty, here is a picture of the West Virginia (note that I spell it right here) t-shirt that has caused some controversy over the past couple of days. Can you see what is wrong with the shirt?
You're Welcome
I just received my receipt for my local Chinese tax filings, i.e. my contribution to the growth of communism in this world. On this receipt reads a statement that exclaims "Thank You for your contribution to China's flourishing and prosperity!" First, to take a page out of Seinfeld, the use of the exclamation point makes me feel like the Chinese Tax Authorities are yelling at me, but I guess they are just happy to have some American paying them money. Second, I am not sure if this sentence is proper English (came as a real shocker as the Chinese really have that Chinese to English translation down), but from my extensive research, I think flourishing is an adjective, so while prosperity is used correctly, I am not sure flourishing is used right (I read this sentence and thought, flourishing what? economy?). Anyway, maybe they can use some of the tax money that I paid (to clarify a cent didn't come out of my pocket, my Company flipped the bill for me) to clean up some of their English.
IN: Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Coming off the heals of my latest cholesterol tests, I was doing research on how to increase my HDL (good cholesterol) and came across a bunch of articles on Omega 3 Fatty Acids (oil that is produced mostly by fish). Now to inform all you readers, I actually was taking Omega 3 Fatty Acid pills about 3 years ago, so I was ahead of the curve on this one (just call me a trendsetter), but it appears that you no longer are limited to swallowing a fish oil pill to get your Omega 3 Fatty Acids (by the way, I took them in the morning and they made me burp fish all morning long, pretty disgusting). Company's are introducing foods like chocolate bars that contain Omega 3 Fatty Acids (although a fishy chocolate bar is not really something I am looking forward to). Anyway, just goggle Omega 3 Fatty Acids and look at the News section and you will see countless articles saying that OM3 decreases risks of cancers and brain dysfunctions and helps out in many ways, so join all the trendy people in burping up some good ole fish in the mornings by taking your OM3 supplements.
OUT: The China Bowl. No I am not the bearer of breaking news, I read this on Shanghaiist.com, who obtained their information from a Peter King article on SI.com, but the NFL is going to cancel this year's China Bowl. This was going to be a game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots that was going to take place in Beijing's newly finished Olympic Stadium (not done yet, but was going to be one of the firsts events to be held in the new facility). I guess my biggest problem with this is the fact that there were people who most likely booked a trip to come over to China to watch the game (as it was announced last August) and now they will not be able to watch the game. I guess they can spend the time looking around Beijing, but I can see where they can be a little mad at the NFL. The NFL wants to focus their efforts on their first regular season international game that will be taking place in London on October of 2007, an event that was planned after the China Bowl was announced. I was actually looking forward to watching a pre-season game over here, getting an opportunity to see how people would re-act in person to this kind of real American football (let's face it, its still the preseason), but I was figuring it would only be foreigners at the game anyway, so it probably wouldn't be too different.
IN: Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Coming off the heals of my latest cholesterol tests, I was doing research on how to increase my HDL (good cholesterol) and came across a bunch of articles on Omega 3 Fatty Acids (oil that is produced mostly by fish). Now to inform all you readers, I actually was taking Omega 3 Fatty Acid pills about 3 years ago, so I was ahead of the curve on this one (just call me a trendsetter), but it appears that you no longer are limited to swallowing a fish oil pill to get your Omega 3 Fatty Acids (by the way, I took them in the morning and they made me burp fish all morning long, pretty disgusting). Company's are introducing foods like chocolate bars that contain Omega 3 Fatty Acids (although a fishy chocolate bar is not really something I am looking forward to). Anyway, just goggle Omega 3 Fatty Acids and look at the News section and you will see countless articles saying that OM3 decreases risks of cancers and brain dysfunctions and helps out in many ways, so join all the trendy people in burping up some good ole fish in the mornings by taking your OM3 supplements.
OUT: The China Bowl. No I am not the bearer of breaking news, I read this on Shanghaiist.com, who obtained their information from a Peter King article on SI.com, but the NFL is going to cancel this year's China Bowl. This was going to be a game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots that was going to take place in Beijing's newly finished Olympic Stadium (not done yet, but was going to be one of the firsts events to be held in the new facility). I guess my biggest problem with this is the fact that there were people who most likely booked a trip to come over to China to watch the game (as it was announced last August) and now they will not be able to watch the game. I guess they can spend the time looking around Beijing, but I can see where they can be a little mad at the NFL. The NFL wants to focus their efforts on their first regular season international game that will be taking place in London on October of 2007, an event that was planned after the China Bowl was announced. I was actually looking forward to watching a pre-season game over here, getting an opportunity to see how people would re-act in person to this kind of real American football (let's face it, its still the preseason), but I was figuring it would only be foreigners at the game anyway, so it probably wouldn't be too different.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
C'mon guys, share the love (and Un-Fair Trade)
The chalk dust has settled and what do we have left, the #1 overall seed Florida vs another team that spent some good time ranked at #1 during the regular basketball season in Ohio State University. Does this National Championship sound familiar? Probably does since this is the same match up as the BCS National Championship back in early January this year. I just can't wait for the Florida-OSU lacrosse championship in May. Really guys, you have to share the love. Don't get me wrong, am I intrigued, of course I am, hands down two of the best teams during the regular season has weathered the tourney storm and now get a chance to settle it on the court, but man if you're not a fan of OSU or Florida, you kind of feel like they are getting to cheer for all the good stuff this year.
I know you all want predictions, I picked Georgetown, so what do I know, but let me just say this, Florida has been there before, they manhandled UCLA again this year, so 90% of the analyst are going to say that Florida is going to win it again this year (just listen to sports radio on Monday, you will hear it). Well, everyone thought OSU basically had the BCS championship in the bag earlier this year and we saw how Florida shoved it down their throats during the game. Florida is the better team and more experienced in this situation, but let us not forget what happened just a couple of months ago. I leave it at that.
IN: MadLibs - the day has come where my love for Madlibs is finally vindicated. Sit down Sudoku, don't even bother getting back up Crossword puzzles, Madlibs has been crowned the new champion of "stupid things to do when you have free time," and its not looking to relinquish until Mah Jong makes a comeback. Yes, people have finally come back to realize how fun it is to fill in blanks with nouns, verbs, and adverbs (no one actually knows what this is, but the US education system has convinced us that adverbs are only words that end in "ly"). I mean where else can poop be filled in as a noun, a verb, an adjective (like poopy face), and an adverb (pooply), and all the while making you laugh because the sentence would sound something like this, On his way to the White House the poop had to poop with the poopy terrorist, then he stumbled pooply onto Uranus. Classy and funny all at the same time. Madlibs also gives people the excuse to use such words as butt, weiner, booger, potato, and toe cheese. So congrats Madlibs on making the comeback we were all waiting for.
OUT: Fair Trade Goods - sorry Coldplay but your cause is off just a bit. Let me say that the Fair Trade movement itself continues to grow in popularity (thus this would be an IN), but I am attacking the economics behind it, which is why I am saying that it should be OUT. Made most famous by the band Coldplay and most commonly bought in coffee form, fair trade was the idea that Corporations should begin to pay a fair price for the commodities that they buy, thus allowing the person producing the goods a fair living wage for their production. The downfall, it stuck its nose in the face of a free market and is causing problems with coffee commodity pricing along with agricultural efforts in developing countries. Let me start with agricultural efforts. So a farmer in Columbia sees that his neighbor makes more money producing coffee that is sold as fair trade coffee. He converts part of his land that is used to produce bananas so that he can grow coffee beans. When he goes to sell the coffee he gets the premium price as it is fair trade, but he finds out that the costs to convert the land in addition to the fact that only a small portion of his land was used to grow coffee (simple economics here dealing with incremental costs)causes costs to grow coffee to be more then the amount he recovered when the coffee is sold, thus he loses out. In addition, because farmers think they can make more money on growing coffee beans, they are growing less bananas (just as an example) so even though the world's demand for bananas remains the same, the supply goes down, thus the cost of bananas goes up for the end consumer (none of this increase in price is passed down to the farmer again, so they lose out again). So not only is the coffee more expensive, but bananas are more expensive and both are passed onto the consumer and not given back to the farmer. So here's the end result of what fair trade is doing, it is more costly for the farmer to sell the product and it is more costly for the consumer to buy that product along with other products, sounds really fair to me.
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