'Nova + Final Four = WOW

I said they would only make it to the sweet sixteen, but my boys made me look like an idiot…and I'm very happy they did. WOW, WOW, WOW, the Final Four for 'Nova…WOW. I was at church during the game, so I didn't get to watch the game over here and when a friend texted me the final score, I almost jumped through the roof. The last time 'Nova was in the Final Four, I was 4 years old, I have only seen video and read stories about their 1985 Championship run, now I get to experience it first hand. I know they have a really tough matchup against UNC this weekend, but let me live it up for a couple of days before focusing on the UNC game.

Let's GO 'Nova!!!!

At first I was Frightened....

…Frightened that I had made a big mistake in buying the Frightened Rabbit album that was released in 2008. When I did my first listen of this album, I really didn't think there were more then 1 or 2 good tracks. Well, after giving myself a couple more listens, I discovered some hidden gems in this album. The album, The Midnight Organ Fight, is the band's second studio album, I can't compare it to their previous because I have never heard anything from it. The music on the album can be best described as being raw…raw lyrics, raw vocals and raw sounds. As I said, a first listen might leave you wanting more from the album, but after a couple of listens you start to see what the band is trying to do. The lyrics are nothing to write home to mom about; lyrics such as, "you're s**t and I'm knee deep in it" from the track Backwards Walk or "Jesus is just a Spanish boys name" or even "I think I'll save suicide for another day," give a clear indication that the band members probably haven't had the most inspirational life, but there is still a lot of emotional truths being belted through the different tracks. The tracks that I can't stop listening to include the first 3 tracks of the album, The Modern Leper, I Feel Better, and Good Arms vs Bad Arms, but there are other tracks that continue to grow on me that include Fast Blood, Poke and Floating In the Forth. Overall the album is a good listen once you get used to the bands style. If you are looking for some good, but different music, this is a good album to purchase. Overall I give it 3 out of 5 gerken pickles.

The Worst Guide Dog Ever

I had a meeting with a client in another part of the downtown area of the city. The taxi dropped me off across the street from the client's building, so as I waited for the light to turn green for me to cross, I saw a blind man with a dog coming towards me. I stepped forward out of his way and stood next to the street light pole. Well I heard the blind man start to speak to the dog a little bit more and then an old lady stepped in front of me and looked at me then at the dog with a concerned stare. Taking note of that stare, I turned around to note that the dog was basically peeing on me. I believe the dog was trying to pee on the pole, but in fact, the dog must have been as blind as the owner because the dog was trying to pee on me. If this was a seeing person, I probably would have been mad at the person, but being that the guy was blind, I didn't take offense to his dog peeing on me. Luckily the dog not only missed the pole but mostly missed peeing on me, which makes me conclude that it is probably not the best dog to be guiding a blind guy around.

My House Smells Like Easter Eggs...

Well at least it smells like the stuff that you dip the Easter Eggs in. I think the Easter Egg dye is basically vinegar with food coloring (at least if my memory serves me correctly). We had a bunch of new furniture that has been delivered to our house last week, with all the wood furniture, the stain on the wood is fairly new so we have some strong fumes floating around the house (the only good thing from the fumes is that my kids sleep later in the morning, this I presume results from them sucking in the fumes all night long). To eliminate the fumes, we read that it is good to put vinegar near the source of the smells. The only problem is you are replacing the bad smell of stained furniture with the awkward yet strong smell of vinegar. So I am not sure vinegar takes away the smell, but it definitely replaces the bad smell of stained furniture. I guess all I need to do is fry up some potatoes so my house smells like Thrashers…that might actually be a good thing.

Kunming

Last weekend the family and I headed to Kunming to visit some friends working down in Kunming. The essence of the trip was to catch up with our friends, so we didn't make a significant amount of time to do sightseeing. On Saturday morning, the kids and I were free, but only had a couple of hours. As a result, we decided to go to Cui Hu (Jade Lake) in downtown Kunming. The park around the lake isn't anything too special, but it was a great day and we were able to rent a paddle boat and go for a paddle boat ride out on the lake. The kids had a great time chasing the ducks (although they were just sitting back while I was the one paddling to chase the ducks…and ducks are pretty fast), and they were all excited to run around the bridges in the park.

Over the rest of the weekend we spent time with friends and met some really cool people, actually I met some Norwegians, which are the first born and raised Norwegians that I have ever met in my life so that was pretty cool. One other thing that came out of the weekend was how I figured out what kind of great life we have here in Shanghai. If we were in Kunming our lives would be totally different and totally less western as compared to our lives here, so while people in the US think we are bold for living in Shanghai, we have it really good here, I take my hat off to the expats that are living in smaller cities such as Kunming that do not have all the creature comforts we get here in Shanghai.

Let's Go 'Nova....

After my documented worries during my running diary, there were not many things to worry about on Saturday when my boys, Villanova, played UCLA. UCLA clearly being a better team than American, but 'Nova played their type of game and were able to dominate UCLA basically the whole game. So after a scare in the first round, 'Nova was able to pull it together to easily advance onto the Sweet Sixteen.

Next up, Duke…which is a team that is on a much different level then American or UCLA. So I am worried…yes…if we play like we did during the first half of the American game, we will get destroyed…if we play like we did against UCLA, then we should keep it very competitive. Duke is the better team of the two teams, but I believe we have a good fighters chance to advance onto the Elite Eight…but can't think too far ahead…first up…Duke in Boston.

As for history with this matchup, I can only find one other time that these two teams played each other. In November of 2000, Duke beat Villanova 98-85 at Duke. Carlos Boozer, Shane Battier, and Chris Duhon (all NBAers) beat up on the 'Nova team whose start player Michael Bradley couldn't keep up with the Duke. I don't think this year's Duke team is quite on the level of the 2000 team, but we shall see.

Villanova vs American U, My First Running Diary

I got to work early primarily to be able to watch the Villanova vs American first round NCAA tournament. A friend of mine runs a blog, http://ilovebrackets09.blogspot.com/ and one of the things he does well are running diaries of games. I thought I would take a shot at it.

7:20am (China time) – Okay so I am running late and trying to get my computer up and running. No one is really picking American on the upset here, but my gut feeling when I heard the matchup was that I was concerned…hopefully things workout well for us this morning. Also no big upsets yet in the first day, I'm not all too happy about that cause this could be the primer for a big upset….we shall see.

7:25am – 5-3 Villanova, Happy to have the game showing online hoping that I can watch the whole thing. Dwayne Anderson just hits a 3 pointer to make it 8-3, off to a good start, let's see if we can maintain this.

7:29am – 10-9 Villanova, American has hit 2 straight 3's to get back into this game early, if they stay as hot as they do, could be trouble. Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas are calling the game, this makes me happy. At least I can be entertained with these guys making the call, Jay Bilas really knows what he is talking about.

7:30am – 14-12 Villanova, Enberg points out that American players move well without the ball, and then American hits a 3 off of a screen. For some reason 'Nova has had trouble early keeping track of all the American movement. If American keeps it up they will be able to stay competitive.

7:33am – 14-11 Villanova, after the commercial break, refs take a point away from American as the last shot by American was a two pointer not a 3 pointer.

7:39am – 19-17 American, sloppy play abounds in this game. Villanova is trying to win the game with outside shots, particularly the 3 pointer, if they continue 'Nova will not win this game. They need to get the ball inside to Cunningham, they need to get him more involved and they should be able to run away. 'Nova hits a 3 to make it 20-19 Nova, with 11:04 left in the first half, there is a lot of game to be had, 'Nova needs to change their approach to the game if they want to pull away.

7:43am – 21-20 American, great steal by Corey Fisher, goal tending called on American, 22-21 Villanova. I know that Dwayne Anderson is hot thus far in the game, but Cunningham and Reynolds of 'Nova need to get more involved in this game or 'Nova is going to lose.

7:45am – 24-24, just passed it inside to Cunningham for the first time and he got an easy score, 'Nova needs to do this all game long. American comes back and hits a huge 3 to make it 27-24, they are hot right now and that is just what it takes to win a tourney game, 8:41 left in the first half.

7:48am – 27-24 American, too much time left in the game to make any assumptions here, but Villanova needs to slow down the game and know that American won't be this hot all game long. Just establish the inside game guys.

7:51am – 27-24 American, Enberg makes the mistake of calling American, America…you knew this was coming, it must come every game.

7:53am – 27-26 American, 'Nova is playing the way they should be, methodical offense, great defense, and then Scottie Reynolds shoots a quick 3…that was not methodical. American hits a 3 to make it 30-26 American…wow.

7:58am – 32-26 American, 'Nova has 9 turnovers is cold from 3 and is not playing great defense, a recipe for not winning games. Game is still in range, but not if they keep playing like this, will really need to make some adjustments at the half, or at least over the last couple of minutes of this half.

8:03am – 32-31 American, good adjustment after the TV timeout, that's the way to get back into the game, getting the ball inside and being methodical…keep it up.

8:05am – 38-31 American, turnovers, turnovers, wow, my first gut feeling about this game is coming true…wow…49 seconds left in the first half, time to put your heads down and make some big adjustments in the second half. 'Nova is good at adjustments, but we shall see, hopefully they can prevent the lead from getting to much more out of hand.

8:07am – End of the first half, remember when I said they need to prevent the lead from getting more out of hand, 41-31 American at half, 10 point lead. 'Nova has a lot of adjustments at half, they need to focus on not turning over the ball, 11 turnovers in the first half, that'll keep any team in the game. This game is reminding me of the Georgetown loss a couple of weeks ago where turnovers killed us.

8:28am- Beginning of the second half, 41-31 American, I have switched over to listening to the audio of the game as opposed to watching it, the video feed was awful. I was holding onto the video feed because of the announcers, I enjoyed listening to Enberg and Bilas, audio has John Thompson and Wayne Larrivee, so this should be okay and will help me to better follow the game. 'Nova needs to get the ball inside to Cunningham and Reynolds needs to get hot, this is their audition for the NBA and right now they wouldn't be good enough to play professional ball in the Philippines, so they have to step it up and stop the turnovers…let's see what they can do.

8:30am – 45-31 American, starting to get out of hand…not quite the half time adjustments I was looking for, I should have gone with my gut feeling on my pick and not being a homer.

8:35am – 45-36 American, forget the game for a second, I should have been listening to the radio feed instead of the TV feed this whole time. I have learned very quickly that TV commentators don't have to say nearly as much as radio announcers so you miss a lot of the game if you don't have a good video feed (like I did). These radio announcers are doing a really great job right now.

8:37am – 47-38 American, 'Nova is starting to put on more pressure and it appears to be working, a good adjustment after American wasn't phased coming into the second half…let's see if they can continue to chop away at this lead.

8:42am – 47-41 American, 'Nova with and 1 opportunity, 47-41, 'Nova getting back into this puppy, let's see if we can keep it up, crowd back into it also.

8:43am – 50-41 American, 'Nova looked like it did in the first half in this past series, a bad quick 3 decision by 'Nova, American took advantage of it with a 3 of their own…stupid.

8:45am – 53-43 American, American is not slowing down, they have upset on their mind and 'Nova is not able to do anything against this. If American doesn't go cold, this game is over.

8:48am – 53-47 American, American timeout…American's ball, 'Nova needs a stop here, they need to get this game back into reach, if American extends its lead back to 8 or 9 it might be getting too late for a comeback. Where is Scottie Reynolds right now? 4 points in this game…not a good audition for the NBA. He is reminding me of Allan Ray from a couple of years ago, Ray couldn't hit any shots during the tourney back in 2006 and that was their ultimate downfall…not a good trend for 'Nova to have a great player go cold in big games.

8:56am – 55-49 American, keeping the game within 6 is good, but, obviously, you are not going to win games this way. 'Nova are looking good right now, but need to take it to the next level, rebound Villanova…foul on American…if we can get within 4, that would be good…first foul shot, good, second foul shot, good …55-51 American

8:59am – 55-51 American, rebound 'Nova, bringing the ball down the court, foul on American, chance to get it within 2…it's funny, for a team that should be dominating this game, I am loving that 'Nova has made it close. Redding hits the first foul shot, second foul shot, miss…55-52 American.

9:01am – 55-52 American, American's Carr is in foul trouble with 8:33 left, Carr leaves game, 'Nova to the line to shoot 2 foul shots, first foul shot, miss (you have to make these shots at this point in the game, this could kill 'Nova), second foul shot, good, 55-53 American…crowd really into it.
9:02am – 55-53 American, timeout, 'Nova's ball, chance to tie up this game for the first time since 10 minutes left in the first half…'Nova has to come up big with this possession, remind American who the higher see is…for the first time in this game.

9:05am – 55-55, oh my oh my oh my, even though this shouldn't be this close of a game, I am excited that my boys are back in it.

9:07am – 58-55 Villanova, come on 'Nova, great 3, remember when I was critical of them taking 3's, forget that at this moment…actually you use 3's for separation not to get back into a game, note that they didn't hit a 3 during the whole time they were coming back.

9:10am – 60-55 Villanova…timeout American…5:05 left in the game…wow. American scored 41 points in the first half, they have scored 14 points thus far in the second half…that is pretty amazing. Carr still on the bench, which is clearly hurting American.

9:12am – 60-55 Villanova, a little scuffle underneath the basket, American's Gordon upset, hopefully they can take advantage of the emotions swing. 2 foul shots, 'Nova…first one, good, second shot, good, 62-55 'Nova.

9:14am – 62-57 Villanova, Carr off the bench makes a great shot, told yah he was being missed….foul on American, 2 shots, first free throw, good, second free throw, good, 64-57, 4:10 left in the game.

9:16am – 66-61 Villanova, American staying in the game, American's Carr playing like this is his game to win, he has basically taken over for American to stay in this game. Villanova needs to stay poised, they have the ball with 2:45 left, they have a 5 point lead, no turnovers, long methodical offense with high percentage shots and they can close this out. They are hitting their free throws which is also key…American is not going to give up so 'Nova needs to stay on top of its game.

9:20am – 68-61 Villanova, Cunningham got involved in this game and that is what they needed to do (what I was saying at the beginning of this thing), 21 points right now so Jay Wright must be listening to me via telepathic powers.

9:22am – 1:30 left in the 70-61 Villanova, what a great turnaround for these guys.

9:24am – 72-61 Villanova, people are going to look at the final score and not realize how good of a game this was. If you followed the game you will know how this game went from one team having the advantage to the next team having the advantage and how far ahead American was at one point and then how 'Nova was able to come back, pretty awesome. These teams battled, Dwayne Anderson throws down a huge slam to make it 74-63, 49 seconds left, these teams both played hard, once 'Nova got back into their groove they took over, but give American a huge amount of credit, hopefully this is a wake up call for 'Nova for the tournament. Huge credit to American and the Patriot League, American really showed up and almost was able to pull off the upset.

9:28am – 80-67 Villanova WINS!!!!! Big props to the boys they didn't shutter when they were down (even though some fans were shuttering), now onto rooting for VCU so that 'Nova can face them on Saturday in Philly. Hope you enjoyed my first official running diary, the game was too close for me to come up with any quips or anything, so it was basically just a running diary of the game, hopefully I can refine my skills as I do more of these things.

The upset

For the last two years I have given you all a nice upset pick for the NCAA tournament. Both years, I was right with my upset picks. I have no parameters for my pick other then I make 1 pick based on a lower seed beating a higher seed. Under this system, I can pick an 8 vs 9 game and pick the 9 seed and that would be an upset, but I usually avoid this since this isn't interesting enough. Two years ago I called the Winthrop upset over Notre Dame (an 11 over a 6), last year I called the Kansas State over USC upset (another 11 over 6), while I am not committing to always calling an 11 over 6 upset, I decided that out of all my upsets, this was the most far reaching and thus could put in jeopardy my streak…making it fun to publish. So you're probably thinking great, he is going to pick VCU over UCLA like everyone else…nope, that is too easy and since everyone else is picking it, I figure it probably won't happen. Actually I am going with a little bit of a surprise. If you read my blog, you will know that I am a huge Big East fan, so it is hard for me not to pick the Big East teams to go far in the tournament. But alas, not every team can win, so, while I understand that West Virginia had a nice run at the end of the season, I can see the Dayton Flyers pulling off the 11 over 6 seed upset. So there you go, hopefully I can continue my streak by going out on a limb here. Enjoy the tournament.

'Nova and the Tourney

So my boys (Villanova) are a number 3 seed in the east bracket for the 2009 tournament. They open on Thursday night (Friday morning here in China) against the Patriot League champion, American University as a 14 seed in the east bracket. For the past couple of years I have accurately predicted how far my boys have advanced in the tournament, so I feel some pressure in getting it right this year. As I am all about disclosure, I feel like this year I have to publish how far they are going to get so that I can actually prove to all you readers (just me) that I have a pulse for what is going on with my team. So without further ado here I go:

I had to think long and hard before I committed them getting out of the first round. American will be a dangerous team, and if my boys think just because they are playing in Philly that they should be able to beat them, then they might find themselves in trouble. If they stay focused and understand that American is not going to be a pushover, they should be fine. I ultimately decided that they can beat American, in fact I think they can get to the sweet sixteen again this year. Unfortunately I feel like they will not be able to get past the sweet sixteen. Ultimately, this would be a little disappointing, but they would really have to be playing at the top of their game to get past the sweet sixteen and I just don't see it happening. So there you go, I am a homer, but I am also a realist, so we shall see if I am right again this year…we'll see. Tune in tomorrow for my official upset pick.

Great Movie Scenes

As yet another way of getting you all out there in the blog reading world to continue to get to know me better (and as continued motivation to get me to write more on this thing), I thought I would start writing down great movie scenes that I can remember or jot them down as I see the movie. So to get things started, there are 2 great scenes that I have seen very recently on two movies that I thoroughly enjoyed, the two scenes are as follows:

• The Wrestler, I think most people will agree that Mickey Rourke did a great acting job in this movie, but there was one particular scene in the movie that almost brought a tear out of your boy. In the movie, it is established that Rourke's character, Randy "The Ram," had a huge falling out with his daughter, Stephanie (played by Evan Rachel Wood) and basically doesn't speak with her. When he tries to mend the relationship, the daughter is very hesitant, but eventually gives him a chance. Randy takes her to the beach as a memory that he loved from when she was younger and they walked and talked to each other catching up. During this time, Randy explains how he regrets the mistakes that he made in his life, and then emphasizes how lonely his life is. When they are walking back from the beach, his daughter responds to him pouring out his heart to her by putting her arms in his arms to walk with him…WOW…powerful. Granted the relationship between the two is ruptured later in the movie, but Aronofsky (director) did a great job with this scene.

• Lost in Translation, I really enjoyed this movie when I first saw it, now that I am expatriate living in a country where I basically don't speak the language, this movie has easily become a top 3 movie for me. The situations that Bob Harris, played by Bill Murray, and Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johansson find themselves in with the language barriers and cultural differences ring very close to home with the situations I encounter on a daily basis. Actually, I can't confirm this, but Sofia Coppola, writer and director, had to have written this movie from first hand experience, the nuances in the movie would only be able to be translated from someone who experienced these things. Anyway, the scene that especially struck me (as there were many great scenes) is when Charlotte is in her room sitting on the windowsill looking out on the vast city of Tokyo. Even with all the people and all the things in Tokyo, as Charlotte gazes out, she not only is physically distant from the place she is currently living, the scene brings out how utterly lonely she is, even in a place that has so much. I think Jim Rome puts it best when he says…Great….Scene…Period.

The Boycott that never was...

Way back when, I thought about writing a blog entry about my unofficial boycott of my hometown baseball team the Orioles. My boycott was going to be to not pay attention to anything Orioles or baseball in general this whole season. I guess my justification for not writing a blog entry was mostly because I thought if I wrote an entry I would have been talking about them, so it was quite the conundrum (kind of similar to the Cowboys saying they would keep TO and then cutting him…only not). The reason I was going to boycott baseball is because there is no justice in the free agent market for the small market teams like the Orioles and I have had to endure free agent after free agent go to the Orioles division rivals the Yankees (aka, the evil empire) and the Red Sox (aka, the formally cursed team that everyone wants to play for now that the curse has been lifted). My frustration hit a breaking point when a "hometown boy," Mark Teixeira decided to go with the Yankees. I put hometown boy in quotes because regardless of how much money was being offered, if you grew up in the Baltimore area and were truly an Orioles fan, there would be no amount of money that should inspire you to go to the Yankees…kind of like St. Josephs is to Villanova (man do I seriously dislike that stupid St. Joes Hawk and his flappy-ness).

Anyway, I say all this because…well…the boycott is over. Yeah, I didn't have the guts to go through with it, and to be honest, the O's are my boys, I can't leave them hanging. I know they will probably only win like 60 games this season, but who cares, I have endured 11 straight losing seasons, what's another one on the list? So, as has been the tradition, before opening day this year, I will give my true prediction of the O's for the season…I know all you readers (me) can't wait.

Gotta get some Intimacy

I am not sure why music reviewers like to say this, but a big plus for the critics is if your sound as a band is "maturing" which translates to being different then your previous album(s). I never understood this concept of desiring bands to "mature," there are certain bands that make great albums and they never "mature".

Bloc Party was one of those bands whose sound didn't vary significantly from their first to second album and I must say that those two albums were amazing. So then comes the 3rd album, which reviewers were saying is a more "mature" sound for Bloc Party…that was a warning signal for me. Usually when I love listening to a band and their sound "matures" I tend to start hating that band…I guess maybe that is a sign that I never mature.

To be honest one of my favorite bands is Bloc Party, yet, somehow I totally missed the release of their 3rd studio album back in October 2008. Being over here in China, I have been pretty far out of it and I usually just check in on the bands that I like every 2 years or so to see how the progress of their new album is coming along since I am not able to see them live. So that is basically my excuse for missing the release, hopefully that is good enough for you.

Bloc Party's 3rd studio album is titled "Intimacy," and definitely has some different elements to it then the first 2 albums…both of which, I can listen to in their entirety and never get old of the whole albums. This album is different because there are definitely some bumps in the road, meaning there are some tracks I flat out can't listen to. It starts out with a bang…in the case of "Ares," not a great bang. Not sure what they were thinking when they put this track together, but it is definitely a little off. Halo comes in on the 3rd track and it is conceptually a great Bloc Party song, but it misses on many levels. The album is redeemed with great tracks such as Biko, Signs, Zephyrus, Talons, Ion Square and Flux, but the couple of misses brings down the grade of the album. Overall I would say if you liked their first 2 albums, go get this one…otherwise this is not one of the best albums of 2008, it gets a 3 out of 5 gerken pickles.

Super 'Nova

If you are an avid reader of this blog (and let's face it, the only avid reader of this blog is me), then you might know that my alma mater is Villanova University outside of Philadelphia. While I am a huge college basketball fan and, of course, a huge fan of 'Nova's team, I have not written much over the course of the college basketball season mostly because I just didn't want to jinx what my boys were doing this season. Well the regular season is over and they ended at 25-6 for the season…not too shabby. While I still feel like I could jinx them (thus having them fail in their first games in the Big East and NCAA tournaments), I am feeling like I had to at least mention their successes this year…for some reason I just think St. Thomas of Villanova would look down on me (literally) if I didn't mention them. This is the first year that they have won 25 games since 1951 and they will probably end the season ranked the highest in a couple of years. Overall, I am amazed at how a small Catholic school in the Mid-Atlantic region has found a way over these past 6 years to not only be competitive, but to really be a team to look out for in one of the best (if not the best) conference in the country, the Big East. They have somehow been able to beat out the big name schools in the conference and the region for some of the best recruits and continue to make trips deep into the NCAA tournament. This year they will be the 4th seed in the Big East tournament, which in the current year means they get byes in the first 2 rounds and their first game will be next Thursday in the quarterfinals. Even though I feel like I am jinxing them by writing this entry, I will commit to update all my loyal readers (me) of the progress of my boys during both the Big East tournament and the Big Dance. Hopefully this gets me motivated to write some more entries.

I can't stop smelling myself???

To my knowledge I have not changed the brand or the flavor (is it a flavor or smell?) of my deodorant since around 1997. I have really liked my deodorant and have not had any particular reason to change, so I have kept it the same. Today, I found out why deodorant brands have such long shelf lives. Renee had bought me some new deodorant during her time in Singapore because I was running out of deodorant here in China (and you basically cannot find deodorant here in China unless you want to pay $12 for a stick). So this morning I tried on the new deodorant and I have quickly figured out why people don't change deodorants. Basically, I had gotten so used to the smell of my old deodorant that I never even noticed wearing it, today I have been smelling the deodorant all day long. Every time someone passes me or every time I move around, I get a wiff of myself and, while it smells good, it is weird. The even weirder thing is, when I go back to my old deodorant, I will also be smelling myself…maybe I should just take the China approach and just not wear any…maybe not.

Finger lickn'...wait a minute

On my long ride out from the Guangzhou Airport to the client location in a smaller city named Kaiping, I enjoy looking out the window of the van to take in all the sites of the countryside all during the ride in between Guangzhou and Kaiping. Once we arrived in Kaiping I noticed that there was a place that very closely resembled KFC, but upon further investigation I noticed that the name was MFC. Not sure what the M in MFC stands for (although rumor on the internet states that it stands for McDonalds???), but the store's outside along with all its signs really closely resembled KFC and it appeared that its product offering also closely resembled that of KFC. So I'm snot sure what that means for a future lawsuit, but maybe the next time I am coming into town, I can convince the driver to stop so that I can get a taste of the good ole' general's MFC.