For anyone that has visited in the last couple of months...sorry. I have basically ended this thing for the time being. I don't know when or if I will be posting again, but as of right now I am shutting things down.
Thanks to all who have read
Matt
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Zaijian Means See You Again
Prior to leaving China, I was asked by my company to create a blog entry for their website. The following is the blog entry that I created:
The typical phrase to use here in China to say goodbye to someone is “zaijian,” which literally translates into “see you again.” My 3 year assignment in Shanghai, China is coming to an end in April, and needless to say, I will be saying “zaijian” a whole lot over my last couple days and weeks. It has been an amazing 3 years here in China, both personally and professionally, and there are going to be a lot of things that I will miss when my time over here comes to an end.
To put things into perspective, when I arrived in Shanghai just over 3 years ago, I worked in GT’s small correspondent firm, Pan Cheng Zhang, as the only non-Hong Kong expat in the office. In an office of about 70 people, I kind of stood out and many of my colleagues didn’t know what to think of the new tubby white guy in their office that sat by the microwave. Day after day I had the luxury of having my colleagues cook their lunches in the microwave right next to me, so I got to get a whiff of the various different Chinese style lunches being cooked, sometimes they smelled amazing, other times…is pungent a safe adjective to use?
After a year and a half of sitting next to the microwave and becoming a second hand expert on “what Chinese leftovers cook well in a microwave,” we merged with another local firm in Shanghai, Jiahua, and moved into a brand new office in a prominent building in the middle of the city…and happily my seat was no where near the microwave. By this time there were 3 other US secondees in the Shanghai office so I wasn’t the only “qiguai meiguoren” - strange American. Since then our office has grown, we gained a couple of other foreigners and we are in the midst of another merger with the new GTI China member firm, Zhonghua.
When asked “what is the number one thing that I am going to miss”, the people we have encountered takes the top of the list. From my gracious colleagues in the Shanghai and other China offices, to our friends, to just other random people that kept popping up in my life, these 3 years have been a great experience to meet new and different people. I am especially going to miss the everyday crowds piling into the bus and subway for my commute, I’ll miss my flower guy who sticks around at a corner near my house to sell me flowers to give to my wife ($4USD for a bouquet of flowers is something I will definitely miss) and the construction guys that aren’t wearing any shoes while they are jack hammering the road, the random people who run to take pictures of our two kids as we walk around…as if we are important, the people who comment that my English is better than the governor of California’s English (which is good since he is Austrian), the guys who carry open canisters of gasoline with cigarettes dangling from their mouths, the tailor who makes tailor made suits for a small portion of what you would pay in the US, everyone who shouts “Hello” at us in English while we are meandering around town, the guys riding around with 10 feet of trash piled high on a two wheel trailer attached to their bike, the people who ride around on their motor scooters in the morning with a freshly killed pig strewn over the back of their bike, and of course all the people who were so accommodating to us when the only way we could communicate with each other was with sign language because of the language barrier.
My family and I have established a bunch of great relationships here in Shanghai that we will never forget, and we have been mesmerized by the outpouring of appreciation that has been shown to us as we have begun our transition back to the US. Ultimately, my hope is that when I say “zaijian” it is not out of the common courtesy of saying goodbye, rather it is for its true meaning of, “see you again.”
The typical phrase to use here in China to say goodbye to someone is “zaijian,” which literally translates into “see you again.” My 3 year assignment in Shanghai, China is coming to an end in April, and needless to say, I will be saying “zaijian” a whole lot over my last couple days and weeks. It has been an amazing 3 years here in China, both personally and professionally, and there are going to be a lot of things that I will miss when my time over here comes to an end.
To put things into perspective, when I arrived in Shanghai just over 3 years ago, I worked in GT’s small correspondent firm, Pan Cheng Zhang, as the only non-Hong Kong expat in the office. In an office of about 70 people, I kind of stood out and many of my colleagues didn’t know what to think of the new tubby white guy in their office that sat by the microwave. Day after day I had the luxury of having my colleagues cook their lunches in the microwave right next to me, so I got to get a whiff of the various different Chinese style lunches being cooked, sometimes they smelled amazing, other times…is pungent a safe adjective to use?
After a year and a half of sitting next to the microwave and becoming a second hand expert on “what Chinese leftovers cook well in a microwave,” we merged with another local firm in Shanghai, Jiahua, and moved into a brand new office in a prominent building in the middle of the city…and happily my seat was no where near the microwave. By this time there were 3 other US secondees in the Shanghai office so I wasn’t the only “qiguai meiguoren” - strange American. Since then our office has grown, we gained a couple of other foreigners and we are in the midst of another merger with the new GTI China member firm, Zhonghua.
When asked “what is the number one thing that I am going to miss”, the people we have encountered takes the top of the list. From my gracious colleagues in the Shanghai and other China offices, to our friends, to just other random people that kept popping up in my life, these 3 years have been a great experience to meet new and different people. I am especially going to miss the everyday crowds piling into the bus and subway for my commute, I’ll miss my flower guy who sticks around at a corner near my house to sell me flowers to give to my wife ($4USD for a bouquet of flowers is something I will definitely miss) and the construction guys that aren’t wearing any shoes while they are jack hammering the road, the random people who run to take pictures of our two kids as we walk around…as if we are important, the people who comment that my English is better than the governor of California’s English (which is good since he is Austrian), the guys who carry open canisters of gasoline with cigarettes dangling from their mouths, the tailor who makes tailor made suits for a small portion of what you would pay in the US, everyone who shouts “Hello” at us in English while we are meandering around town, the guys riding around with 10 feet of trash piled high on a two wheel trailer attached to their bike, the people who ride around on their motor scooters in the morning with a freshly killed pig strewn over the back of their bike, and of course all the people who were so accommodating to us when the only way we could communicate with each other was with sign language because of the language barrier.
My family and I have established a bunch of great relationships here in Shanghai that we will never forget, and we have been mesmerized by the outpouring of appreciation that has been shown to us as we have begun our transition back to the US. Ultimately, my hope is that when I say “zaijian” it is not out of the common courtesy of saying goodbye, rather it is for its true meaning of, “see you again.”
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Liver, Kidneys and Ostrich...Oh My!
I am currently on a business trip in Africa, so some of these posts relate to this trip, like the one below:
Well I thought I ate some crazy stuff when I was in China, I guess I am trying to make Africa just as exciting from a food standpoint. Actually the difference in between eating weird things in China and in South Africa mainly has to do with the fact that when you are eating the weird things they are prepared in a gourmet way…so they have some nice flavors going with the weirdness.
Our first night in Johannesburg, we went out with one of the South African partners of our firm to an upscale African type food restaurant called Lekgotla in Nelson Mandela Square. There were a lot of great choices on the menu of foods that I had never tried, so it was pretty tough just to choose one. A colleague began his meal with chicken liver prepared in an spicy African sauce. I can say that I am not normally a big liver fan, but this might be one of my favourite dishes I have ever had. The sauce had a great spice to it yet the spice didn’t take away from the great taste of the Peri Peri sauce…a sauce that is derived from a Mozambiquan chili. For my main dish, I decided on an Ostrich Filet, which was pretty amazing. Ostrich (much like Buffalo) tastes like beef, but has significantly less fat then beef and is very tender. I have to say, my meal of Chicken Liver and Ostrich was pretty amazing.
Not to be outdone by the first night’s meal, we went to one of the best restaurants in Pretoria, Ritrovo Ristorante, with a partner from the Pretoria office for our second night’s meal. While I did get the house special pasta for my main dish (awesome), I tried one of the specials as an appetizer, lamb kidneys. I have to say that I am not a huge kidney person…but the way that these were prepared was absolutely divine.
So within the first two nights I had been pretty adventurous with my food, but it paid off, all the dishes were some of the best meals I have had in a long time. I guess the only problem is, I still have 2 weeks of eating like this…I could be in trouble.
Well I thought I ate some crazy stuff when I was in China, I guess I am trying to make Africa just as exciting from a food standpoint. Actually the difference in between eating weird things in China and in South Africa mainly has to do with the fact that when you are eating the weird things they are prepared in a gourmet way…so they have some nice flavors going with the weirdness.
Our first night in Johannesburg, we went out with one of the South African partners of our firm to an upscale African type food restaurant called Lekgotla in Nelson Mandela Square. There were a lot of great choices on the menu of foods that I had never tried, so it was pretty tough just to choose one. A colleague began his meal with chicken liver prepared in an spicy African sauce. I can say that I am not normally a big liver fan, but this might be one of my favourite dishes I have ever had. The sauce had a great spice to it yet the spice didn’t take away from the great taste of the Peri Peri sauce…a sauce that is derived from a Mozambiquan chili. For my main dish, I decided on an Ostrich Filet, which was pretty amazing. Ostrich (much like Buffalo) tastes like beef, but has significantly less fat then beef and is very tender. I have to say, my meal of Chicken Liver and Ostrich was pretty amazing.
Not to be outdone by the first night’s meal, we went to one of the best restaurants in Pretoria, Ritrovo Ristorante, with a partner from the Pretoria office for our second night’s meal. While I did get the house special pasta for my main dish (awesome), I tried one of the specials as an appetizer, lamb kidneys. I have to say that I am not a huge kidney person…but the way that these were prepared was absolutely divine.
So within the first two nights I had been pretty adventurous with my food, but it paid off, all the dishes were some of the best meals I have had in a long time. I guess the only problem is, I still have 2 weeks of eating like this…I could be in trouble.
ill'n for some Grill'n
Sorry about the delay in posting, but we have been in the process of moving from China back to the US and there are a bunch of things involved with moving halfway across the world. There are a couple of stories that I want to catch you all up on before getting current so some of this might seem outdated, but I still think it is interesting.
One of the things we had been working on before leaving China was a party to say good-bye to some of our friends here in Shanghai. We decided it would be fun to use the grills in our apartment complex while the weather is nice here in Shanghai (at least we are hoping the weather is nice on Saturday). The only problem is that in a complex that has thousands of residents, they only have one grilling area, which translates into there being heavy demand for the grill. As a result, I decided to go and sit outside the management office for 1 hour before it opened to ensure that I would be the first person there to reserve the grill (you can only reserve the grill 1 week in advance, so I had to go the Saturday before we were having the party to wait). As I was sitting there waiting, a guard came by and opened the door to the management office, but did not turn on the lights, it was before opening hours so I assumed it was not open. After about another 20 minutes another resident comes by and opens up the door to go in. As she opened the door, I jumped up and went in with her and approached the desk (I walked a little faster to get in front of her). This lady also wanted to reserve the grill for the same time as me and tried to explain that she was the first one to open the door…too bad I was there an hour before she was.
To make a long story short, I tried to be nice to her and was thinking about sharing the grilling area (fits probably about 50 people, we have about 60 people coming), but she started to get disgruntled with me, so I explained to the worker, in my broken Chinese, I was the first person, so I get first priority on reserving the grill. The worker didn’t want to start a fight, but after I said that he recognized that, indeed, I was the first person, so I go the grill.
Basically it took more effort to reserve the grill then it would to buy Superbowl Tickets...now if the weather can cooperate it should be great time.
One of the things we had been working on before leaving China was a party to say good-bye to some of our friends here in Shanghai. We decided it would be fun to use the grills in our apartment complex while the weather is nice here in Shanghai (at least we are hoping the weather is nice on Saturday). The only problem is that in a complex that has thousands of residents, they only have one grilling area, which translates into there being heavy demand for the grill. As a result, I decided to go and sit outside the management office for 1 hour before it opened to ensure that I would be the first person there to reserve the grill (you can only reserve the grill 1 week in advance, so I had to go the Saturday before we were having the party to wait). As I was sitting there waiting, a guard came by and opened the door to the management office, but did not turn on the lights, it was before opening hours so I assumed it was not open. After about another 20 minutes another resident comes by and opens up the door to go in. As she opened the door, I jumped up and went in with her and approached the desk (I walked a little faster to get in front of her). This lady also wanted to reserve the grill for the same time as me and tried to explain that she was the first one to open the door…too bad I was there an hour before she was.
To make a long story short, I tried to be nice to her and was thinking about sharing the grilling area (fits probably about 50 people, we have about 60 people coming), but she started to get disgruntled with me, so I explained to the worker, in my broken Chinese, I was the first person, so I get first priority on reserving the grill. The worker didn’t want to start a fight, but after I said that he recognized that, indeed, I was the first person, so I go the grill.
Basically it took more effort to reserve the grill then it would to buy Superbowl Tickets...now if the weather can cooperate it should be great time.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Guest Of Honor
Prior to leaving China, I had been feeling really appreciated by my Company, before I left they really made it known that they appreciated what I had done in China. On one of my last nights before leaving, I had the last of the 3 going away shin-digs, the last one being the night that the managers and partners of the firm took me out. While I have been a spectacle at the other annual dinners, mostly because I have typically been the only white person at the parties, I was basically the guest of honor at this dinner. Never having left a Company in China, I didn’t know that as the guest of honor at a going away dinner, everyone, individually, comes around to toast you. This means they individually get to perform a toast once during the night, the person being honored gets toasted by every single person. The idea of being toasted can range from a sip of alcohol to drinking down a shot for each toast. Being the foreigner, I guess the expectation is that I can really keep a lot of alcohol down, so mostly everyone was coming by expecting me to drink it down...and we were not drinking wine spritzers. I had to slow the toasts down a bunch of times so that I wouldn’t lose my faculties (to note, I held everything together the whole night despite all the toasts), but ultimately it was a very fun night.
Hangzhou
Way back in April...you know, when I used to post things on this blog...and when I used to live in China, the family and I took a day trip down to Hangzhou. There have been many people that have told us about how great Hangzhou is and so for our last hoorah in China, we decided to go to Hangzhou.
Since it was a day trip, it was going to be a quick trip to see just a couple of sites. The traffic was smooth getting there, until we got into Hangzhou...where, surprisingly, the traffic was worse then what we got in Shanghai. Believe me, I was extremely salty as we were heading to our first sight…and I thought to myself that this had better be worth it for all this traffic. We were on our way to the LingYin Temple and the Fei Lai Feng Peak to see the temple and buddha statues that have been carved into the side of the peak and it was definitely worth sitting in traffic. Along the peak they have stairs that one is able to climb to see the statues carved all throughout and, while I've seen my fill of buddha statues in China, these were the coolest ones knowing how long they have been here and how, when they were carved, there were no stairs for the carves to climb…Pretty Amazing. The temple was nothing too special, but this is definitely a place to go to see…even if there is a bunch of traffic while you are trying to get there.
After our first stop we headed to the famous restaurant in Hangzhou, Lou Wai Lou (Pavilion Beyond Pavilion). It is famous for the Hangzhou food of Beggars Chicken (chicken with spices, slow cooked in a clay mold), and sweet pork along with some of their other famous dishes. This was not the best Chinese restaurant that we have had during our time here, but the food was definitely worth trying, especially because many of the dishes are hard to find at places outside of Hanghzou.
After lunch we headed out and walked along the most famous sight of Hangzhou, the West Lake. It was a great day to walk around the lake and, for a lake, this is definitely a cool place to see. It is spring time, so seeing the greens around the lake coupled with the pagoda and pavilions that line the lake is a really cool sight. We got a boat for about $10USD to take us out for a quick tour around the lake. Best decision we made all day was taking this boat. Basically you have one guy that rows you around the lake and it was really relaxing plus it gave you a better view of things around the lake.
All in all, Hangzhou was a great day trip and a fun trip to end our time in China.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter!!!
While this has become really contrived and commercialized holiday, it is actually nothing like what most people think it to be.
The most important thing to remember is that the Tomb WAS EMPTY!!! What an AMAZING God we have!!!
Happy Easter!!!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
A Union of Awesomeness
I'll be the first to admit that I bought The Boxer Rebellion's new CD, Union, on Itunes mostly because it was $5.99, but it did help that all the reviews were really positive about the album. Prior to buying, I listened to the first single released, Evacuate, and this helped to secure my decision to buy the album.
So what do I think of it, well let me modify a quote from the movie Bolt by saying, Union is awesome….Union is soooo awesome…Union is beyond awesome….Union is B-Awesome!!! (By the way, you know you are a 28 year old parent when you are quoting from kids movies.) Yes friends, this is one of the best albums I have purchased over the past couple of years…hands down. For $5.99 I wasn't expecting much (click here to see why the album is sold at $5.99), but what I got was a masterpiece. Yes there are definitely some flaws in certain tracks and certain tracks that are not anything to jump for joy over, but overall this is a GREAT album.
As for specific tracks, the album starts off with not just 3 or 4 great tracks; the first 6 tracks are really solid. With track 4, "Soviets," being the big standout in my mind, the other 5 tracks (including the first single, track 3 "Evacuate") are not that far behind. "Soviets" is one of those tracks that I could set Itunes on repeat for 100 listens and still not be tired of it…it's that good. Out of the 11 tracks there are just 2 that miss the mark, track 7 "The Gospel of Goro Adachi" (a little too Radioheady for me) and Track 9 "Forces" (something just not right about this), these two just don't seem to flow as well as the other tracks. They aren't bad songs; they just don't have the feel of this album. Many of the tracks including "Soviets," "Splitting Fire," "Semi Automatic" and "Silent Move" build up into climatic masterpieces, which adds to the greatness of the album.
Being that this is a band that not many people have heard of, I guess I feel obliged to compare them to a popular band. I think I would say they are a cross between U2 (the Joshua Tree Days) and Radiohead (the good, not so weird Radiohead). What else can I say, the album is not perfect, but it is definitely the best in the past 2 or so years…4.5 out of 5 gerkens pickles.
So what do I think of it, well let me modify a quote from the movie Bolt by saying, Union is awesome….Union is soooo awesome…Union is beyond awesome….Union is B-Awesome!!! (By the way, you know you are a 28 year old parent when you are quoting from kids movies.) Yes friends, this is one of the best albums I have purchased over the past couple of years…hands down. For $5.99 I wasn't expecting much (click here to see why the album is sold at $5.99), but what I got was a masterpiece. Yes there are definitely some flaws in certain tracks and certain tracks that are not anything to jump for joy over, but overall this is a GREAT album.
As for specific tracks, the album starts off with not just 3 or 4 great tracks; the first 6 tracks are really solid. With track 4, "Soviets," being the big standout in my mind, the other 5 tracks (including the first single, track 3 "Evacuate") are not that far behind. "Soviets" is one of those tracks that I could set Itunes on repeat for 100 listens and still not be tired of it…it's that good. Out of the 11 tracks there are just 2 that miss the mark, track 7 "The Gospel of Goro Adachi" (a little too Radioheady for me) and Track 9 "Forces" (something just not right about this), these two just don't seem to flow as well as the other tracks. They aren't bad songs; they just don't have the feel of this album. Many of the tracks including "Soviets," "Splitting Fire," "Semi Automatic" and "Silent Move" build up into climatic masterpieces, which adds to the greatness of the album.
Being that this is a band that not many people have heard of, I guess I feel obliged to compare them to a popular band. I think I would say they are a cross between U2 (the Joshua Tree Days) and Radiohead (the good, not so weird Radiohead). What else can I say, the album is not perfect, but it is definitely the best in the past 2 or so years…4.5 out of 5 gerkens pickles.
As a note aside from the CD (some history here), the Boxer Rebellion was a violent anti-foreign, anti-religious movement in China by the "Righteous Harmonious Fists" between 1898 and 1901. They were responding to the growing influence of capitalism, imperialistic influences and missionaries in China and how they felt that these influences were not good for China. Anyway, the rebellion ended, but not after many deaths in China. Not sure if the Band named themselves after this, but I would imagine it definitely had some influences.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
What a Great Run
While the National Champion has already been crowned, I feel like I just have to touch on 'Nova's run in the tourney. First, for anyone who doesn't see the benefit of a tourney (i.e, the same organization that puts on the basketball tourney, the NCAA), 'Nova showed what a team that not only plays hard, but plays great can do in a 5 game stretch. Yes, they are from a major conference and yes they were dangling around the top 10 for much of the end of the season, but Villanova certainly does not have the same resources available to them like a UNC, UCONN or MSU. While it was a great team, it was still a huge underdog (even in some games like UCLA and Duke), yet they were scrappy and gritty and with good execution, they were able to make it to the Final Four…WOW…the Final Four…AMAZING. I never thought I would be able to see the day when my boys made it to the Final Four, in fact they may not ever do it again (of course I have faith that if Wright sticks around, we would have a good chance sometime in the future), so I had to cherish this year as a year that the boys did something special.
Thanks for the Great Run and the Fun times in following it (by the way, next time if you could make sure I am in the US, I would appreciate).
Thanks for the Great Run and the Fun times in following it (by the way, next time if you could make sure I am in the US, I would appreciate).
Friday, April 3, 2009
Orioles Precition
Even though I said I would be boycotting MLB, I retracted my boycott and am going back to my annual tradition of trying to predict how the O's are going to do this year. Last year I predicted that they would go 59 and 103, they won 9 more games then I thought they would ending the season at 68-93 which really confuses me since it appears they only played 161 games last year instead of the standard 162 games; I guess there was a rained out game that was never made up again, which is probably good so that they wouldn't lose again.
This year I am going out on a limb. They exceeded my expectations last year and while it would be easy for me to continue to predict that they will have a losing season (would be their 13th in a row), I am going to go out on a limb. In order to prevent a losing season the Orioles would have to win 81 games. I know that they basically don't have a starting pitcher capable of winning more then 10 games, but I believe that something good will happen this season. They won't make the playoffs or anything that great, but I think they can get over .500. This year's prediction, 83 – 79; yes that would be a winning season and good jumping off point for the future. I can't wait, I will be back in the US for most of the season and hope to be watching the birds win it up (over half the time).
This year I am going out on a limb. They exceeded my expectations last year and while it would be easy for me to continue to predict that they will have a losing season (would be their 13th in a row), I am going to go out on a limb. In order to prevent a losing season the Orioles would have to win 81 games. I know that they basically don't have a starting pitcher capable of winning more then 10 games, but I believe that something good will happen this season. They won't make the playoffs or anything that great, but I think they can get over .500. This year's prediction, 83 – 79; yes that would be a winning season and good jumping off point for the future. I can't wait, I will be back in the US for most of the season and hope to be watching the birds win it up (over half the time).
Nanjing Trip
My family and I are trying to fit in as much travelling as possible before we leave China. This past weekend we took a day trip out to Nanjing. It was a pretty packed day as there is a lot to see in Nanjing, but our day started out at 5:15am when we left our house to go to the Shanghai train station. After about a 2 hour train ride to Nanjing, the family and I left the Nanjing train station and took the #1 tourist bus to head to the touristy area on Nanjing.
After a bus ride in which our bus driver was the least aggressive bus driver I have ever had here in China. To put it in perspective, the driver would never try to go through a yellow light, he would stop at bus stops and read his text messages on his phone and he never once tried to make an effort to get us to our destination with enthusiasm. This is the complete opposite of any bus driver that I have had in Shanghai, so it was a little weird to be riding in this bus.
After a bus ride in which our bus driver was the least aggressive bus driver I have ever had here in China. To put it in perspective, the driver would never try to go through a yellow light, he would stop at bus stops and read his text messages on his phone and he never once tried to make an effort to get us to our destination with enthusiasm. This is the complete opposite of any bus driver that I have had in Shanghai, so it was a little weird to be riding in this bus.
We started our day by going to Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum and the touristy area that is around the mausoleum. The Mausoleum (as seen in the picture) has a bunch of stairs that leads you from the entrance area all the way up to the main mausoleum area. My kids were…unusually…excited about climbing all the stairs. This ended up being a great thing because they were really excited about all the activities we had for the day.
After walking around for a bit, we headed back to town for some lunch. We found a place that looked to be similar to Shanghai's Xintiandi, so we assumed we would be able to find a good meal. We ate at a place called Nihero, which is a Cantonese Style restaurant, for Shanghai it was a reasonably priced meal, overall it was a good restaurant…not the best…but good.
After walking around for a bit, we headed back to town for some lunch. We found a place that looked to be similar to Shanghai's Xintiandi, so we assumed we would be able to find a good meal. We ate at a place called Nihero, which is a Cantonese Style restaurant, for Shanghai it was a reasonably priced meal, overall it was a good restaurant…not the best…but good.
With full stomachs we headed over to the Nanjing Massacre Museum. At the time we were not sure if it was a good idea to go to see this exhibit with full stomachs, but it ended up being a good idea. Both my wife and I thought that we had heard that the museum was not for the faint of heart, but it was actually a really well done memorial for the people who died and was my favorite part of the trip. The tone of the place was obviously solemn, but the displays had a lot of taste and the exhibits were really thought through. The Chinese had a chance to do this well or really make it cheesy and overdo it, in this case they did it very well and tastefully.
After seeing the museum, we went back towards the train station and walked around the Xuanwu Lake and Park right outside of the train station before hopping on our train back to Shanghai. Overall, Nanjing is a really cool city with some neat and well done things to say…definitely worth the day trip from Shanghai.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
'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!!!!
Let's GO 'Nova!!!!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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.
Monday, March 23, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, March 20, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
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.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
'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.
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.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 9, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, March 6, 2009
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.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
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.
Monday, February 9, 2009
25 Random Things
One part of being on facebook is that people will do annoying things like poking you, sending you e-gifts (that don't actually do anything) and then send things like "write 25 random things about you." Well I got a couple of them and finally wrote the 25 random things so that I could say that I did it. Here is the list that I posted (by the way the Chuck Norris picture was just a random picture I thought would be appropriate):- I love that my kids make me laugh everyday, Jacob and the new things that he says, and Maddie…well she is like me, her thoughts are all over the place.
- I hope that one day I will able to take a year off of work, pull the kids out of school and travel the world (although living in China isn't a bad start)
- I love saying, "Renee and I have been married for 6 ½ years (or however many years at the time I'm saying it)…it's been the best 2 years of my life." It hardly ever gets a laugh, but I'm cheesy like that. NOTE: I secretly have loved all the years that my wife and I have been married…wait…secrets out.
- I wish that more people would understand how awesome the message of the Gospel is.
- I am obsessed with the NFL Draft; I literally plan my year around the last weekend in April so that I can sit around on Saturday and Sunday and watch close to 20 hours worth of pure football enjoyment. Note that I already have my plans for the 2010 Draft; all I got to say is Damon Hall had better be ready.
- I am extremely cheap and my favorite gift to give others is a gift certificate to watch my kids for a night.
- I am happy that I go with the flow; otherwise this whole thing about not knowing what is going to happen when I move back to the US would probably be stressing me out.
- I have begun to love watching Rugby over here in China. I hate to say that it is getting closer to being my number one sport to watch. Sorry NFL, the flow of Rugby with no commercial breaks, no timeouts, just all out running around and hitting is so much more appealing then watching a 3.5 hour NFL Broadcast that contains less then 30 minutes of action.
- I still believe that ice cream fills in the cracks after eating…so even if you are full, enjoy, it won't fill you up any more, right?
- I have no idea where I will be in 5 years or 10 years…my wife keeps asking and I am always able to somehow defer my answer.
- I would rather watch Ravens' games by myself, mostly because I sometimes secretly try to coach the team through the TV…too bad it never works
- I think that Buffalo chicken sandwiches are like manna from Heaven.
- I would love to be able to make MTO runs every night at 1am, but I would probably then be dead after about 1 year.
- I have really begun to enjoy hiking outside and up mountains, first Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), then Old Rag, then Evere…wait…okay maybe I will stick to mountains less then 10,000ft.
- I really hope that I can go to New Zealand in 2011 to watch the Rugby World Cup, and oh yeah, seeing New Zealand wouldn't be half bad either.
- I would love to open a diner that just sells sandwiches made from left over comfort food meals, Thanksgiving Day Sandwich, Pot Roast Hoagie, Chicken and Mashed Potatoes on Pumpernickel, etc. My experiments in this field have slowed during my time in China…still trying to figure out if the Chicken Feet, Pig's Ear, Lotus Root and Fried Noodle Sandwich would be a hit under the "Asian" section of my menu.
- I love playing basketball in China, I tend to be one of the better players when I'm on the court…in the US I am usually the scrub no one wants.
- I have what medical professionals refer to as Poop Fright, defined as the inability to go #2 in public or around other people.
- When I cook something I don't trust other people's opinions, I have to taste it on my own to determine if it is good or not, usually I don't think it tastes great…I get that from my grandmother.
- I don't know how to accept praise from people; I try to downplay important stuff in my life so that I don't have to receive praise over it.
- I like to secretly give my kids candy…oops…secrets out. I understand this is very wrong on many levels, but it brings a smile to my kids and my face.
- I am a little bit of a movie snob, I may sit down to watch almost any movie, but I usually like very few movies and they mostly do not appeal to the masses.
- When I plan vacations, I try to plan them around the meals. Most of my favorite experiences from vacations past deal with food.
- I basically had never lived outside of a 70 mile radius of where I grew up, until I moved to China…so that was kind of big.
- I used to be embarrassed to say that my favorite tea to drink is Lady Grey Tea, but I have come to accept that, "I Love Lady Grey Tea!" (but please imagine me saying this in a grunting manly voice, not a spritsy schoolgirl voice)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I think I may be a part of a cartel....
Last year there were some milk scandals over here in China and many people stopped drinking the milk here locally for a good amount of time. Prior to this scandal, Renee and I had been looking for the best milk available for our kids as we always thought the local milk had a weird taste. After talking with friends, we found a brand of milk named NGF that I believe is produced out of Ningbo. It is the same milk that is used by Starbucks and that Starbucks continued to use throughout the whole scandal last year. This is what solidified it for me that this was the only local milk that I wanted to buy for my kids, if Starbucks is willing to serve it to millions of customers, then my two kids should be okay.
Anyway, there are only two ways to buy the milk, either buy it in the foreign grocery store or from someone (like a coffee shop owner) who already purchases the milk. The price in the grocery store is twice that of what the actual retail price to shop owners is, so luckily we had a connection with a shop owner and were able to order the milk via this owner. So it started with getting milk for my kids and then people started trying the milk at our house and hearing about our arrangement, so they asked us to get them milk and now I think we are getting it for 4 or 5 different families. In fact we take orders for the milk from friends and call it in to our point person and then once we get the milk we call our friends, they come by, we exchange money and they take their milk. I think the basic makeup of this arrangement mirrors that of a formal cartel, if not at least an informal drug dealer on the street corner. I feel like I should get extra inventory of the milk and start selling it for a profit to try to make my business legit, but I haven't taken it that far yet. I also might be under this impression because I have been watching a lot of The Wire lately…this is most likely why I feel like I need to hire some young'ens and hoppers.
Anyway, there are only two ways to buy the milk, either buy it in the foreign grocery store or from someone (like a coffee shop owner) who already purchases the milk. The price in the grocery store is twice that of what the actual retail price to shop owners is, so luckily we had a connection with a shop owner and were able to order the milk via this owner. So it started with getting milk for my kids and then people started trying the milk at our house and hearing about our arrangement, so they asked us to get them milk and now I think we are getting it for 4 or 5 different families. In fact we take orders for the milk from friends and call it in to our point person and then once we get the milk we call our friends, they come by, we exchange money and they take their milk. I think the basic makeup of this arrangement mirrors that of a formal cartel, if not at least an informal drug dealer on the street corner. I feel like I should get extra inventory of the milk and start selling it for a profit to try to make my business legit, but I haven't taken it that far yet. I also might be under this impression because I have been watching a lot of The Wire lately…this is most likely why I feel like I need to hire some young'ens and hoppers.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Happy Lunar New Year
Happy belated Lunar New Year everyone. I know that it was last week, but I thought I could add it in. I had last week off of work with the Lunar New Year Holiday and I was able to get some good relaxation in with family and friends. I'm back to work now and will try to keep this thing updated a lot more often. Yes I missed blogging about the Superbowl and about the Ravens and their run. I did open a facebook account so that has been taking up some of my time, but I will try to keep up with regular entries about what is going on over here.
Wait my kids are???
Many of you know that Jacob was born here in China, so when he goes to the US, it is typically just for a visit, so he really does see the US as being a place to go for a vacation. While Maddie was born in the US, she also really only associates the USA with being a place that we go visit and China being our home. But both took this attitude to the next level while we were back in the US. When someone asked them if they were American or Chinese, Maddie first replied by saying, "I am Chinese!" Jacob then followed by proclaiming the same thing.
First, they are some of the whitest Chinese kids I have ever seen. Second, I think these statements make it so that it will be quite a job convincing the kids that the USA is our home when we get back. Oh well, it should be interesting.
First, they are some of the whitest Chinese kids I have ever seen. Second, I think these statements make it so that it will be quite a job convincing the kids that the USA is our home when we get back. Oh well, it should be interesting.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Back and, well, maybe not better then ever
So I was really late in posting my stories from Tokyo and haven't really been posting as of late, so let me catch you all up on a couple of things:
- I am very excited for the Ravens making the AFC Championship game…they came a long way from this post
- My family and I were in the US for Christmas and really enjoyed our time with friends and family
- I finally found out that I passed a professional exam that I had been trying to take over the past couple of years, so that is definitely good news
- We got back to China and are in our final months so are starting to make plans for our return back to the US for good
All in Perspective
As a result of all the flying that I have been doing as of late (I guess you can just look through some of my posts as of late and that should give you an idea), I was able to accumulate a bunch of miles. This has enabled me to do trips here and there (like the Tokyo trip) and has also given me some other benefits that include getting passes to stay in the classy airline lounges (for United they are referred to as Red Carpet Clubs). Not being much of a flyer before these adventures, this is the first time that I have had the opportunity to be in a lounge at the airport. I got the airport early before leaving, so I decided to use one of my passes and spend my time in the lounge. I really didn't know what to expect when I went in, but I thought the lounge was nice. It was really big (could probably seat around 1,500 people) and had lots of different amenities like free internet, free food and drinks, and some other things that cater to a traveller. I was actually pretty impressed by the place.
I guess it was all put in perspective when another traveller sat behind me with a friend and he immediately started to complain about how bad the lounge was. In fact all he did was complain about how bad the lounge was for his whole time there. I guess this guy doesn't often sit out with the regular people waiting for the planes because if he did he would see that he has it pretty good in these lounges. Granted he was comparing it to the Singapore Airline lounges (which anything related to Singapore Airlines is going to be 10 times better then anything related to United) so he might be justified, but if compares it to not being in the lounge, I can't imagine someone who would complain. I guess it is all about a person's perspective on things.
I guess it was all put in perspective when another traveller sat behind me with a friend and he immediately started to complain about how bad the lounge was. In fact all he did was complain about how bad the lounge was for his whole time there. I guess this guy doesn't often sit out with the regular people waiting for the planes because if he did he would see that he has it pretty good in these lounges. Granted he was comparing it to the Singapore Airline lounges (which anything related to Singapore Airlines is going to be 10 times better then anything related to United) so he might be justified, but if compares it to not being in the lounge, I can't imagine someone who would complain. I guess it is all about a person's perspective on things.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tokyo Day 4
My last day in Tokyo started early with me heading over to the Tsukiji fish market. The market itself was nothing special (but I should say that regular folks aren't actually aloud into the cool auction part of the market anymore). My main goal for going to this place was to get a nice fresh sushi meal…in the morning. So after walking around for a bit, I found a pretty unsuspecting place that seemed to be pretty popular. I found a seat, got a menu and started at it. For those of you who might only be familiar with sushi in the USA, when I say sushi I am referring to Nigiri Sushi which basically consists of raw fish on top of rice (in the US, Maki Rolls which are rolled together with fish and other ingredients like veggies and other stuff, are much more popular then Nigiri sushi). The first thing that I noticed (and loved) was that the rice was still warm when I took my first bite, usually the rice has cooled completely, but this really added to the intricacy of the sushi by having the cold raw fish combined with the warm and flavourful rice. To be honest I wasn't completely blown away by how good the sushi was, but it is still some of the best I have ever had. Actually there was two pieces that I had that they used a small blow torch to quickly broil the tuna (like 5 seconds) before serving it…this was absolutely one of the best tasting fish related dishes I have ever had…I think I could go to Tokyo and sit down and have this every single meal it was that good.
After getting my fill for breakfast, I headed to the Asakusa areas to see the Sensoji temple. Nothing too special here, but it is a neat thing to see. I then headed over to the Shibuya area which is well known for attracting an interesting crowd of young'ens on the weekends. I walked up through Shibuya and through Yoyogi Park so that I could go see the Meiji Shrine. The best part of the Shrine was the fact that there were some wedding ceremonies going on, so it was neat to see how the traditional wedding ceremonies went. After I back to Yoyogi park where the young folk had started gathering. There were people dancing (some to music, others…well I don't know what they were dancing to), acting out plays, playing instruments, people tapping broomsticks on the ground trying to make some kind of beat and then just a bunch of youths just sitting around hanging out. The one thing I really liked about this walk was you were able to get to see the diversity of the styles that people (of all ages) choose in Tokyo.
After soaking in all the fun of people watching, I headed back to my hotel to pick up my bags and head to the airport. I made one final stop in Ueno at an outside market that had caught my eye before getting on the train to the airport. I was very glad I took a walk through this thing, again, I am not a shopper so I didn't buy anything of worth, but I did find a Turkish Doner Kebab place. So I thought, after eating all this Japanese food…why not have a Doner Kebab. Technically I have only had one once in my life, but I could literally live off this stuff (which is good that I don't live in Europe because supposedly they are all over the place). I ordered one with chicken and I hate to say it, but it was by far the best thing I ate during my time in Tokyo. The Japanese food was good (the best I have ever had), but this Kebab has all the necessities that I love in food, it's got juicy meat, vegetables, great sauce (it was awesome), and the bread that was wrapped around it was perfect. So I was extremely glad to have taking this walk and will go to the place 100 out of 100 times if I ever go back to Tokyo. All in all a great ending to a great trip.
Tokyo Day 3
The itinerary for the day was to go to Mount Fuji, go to the 5th station on Mount Fuji (because of the snow you can only really go halfway up in the winter time), go take a lake cruise in Hakone, then go to one of the mountain tops in Hakone to see Mount Fuji from a distance. The tour ends with people taking one of the Shinkansen trains (bullet trains) back to Tokyo.
We left Tokyo and the weather was fine, but as we approached Mt. Fuji the weather got more cloudy and overcast and got worse to the point that it started to rain. This basically sums up my day. While I stood on Mount Fuji, I couldn't really see anything, and we were not able to go up too far on the mountain because it had started to snow. We did an early lunch, but when we got to Hakone, we were not able to go up onto the mountain top because it was too windy. We did take the lake cruise that was cool, but it was pretty overcast and windy. With all the other stuff that we were not able to do I was expecting that something would be wrong with the trains, but when we arrived, everything was on schedule, so we hoped on the bullet train and was back in Tokyo in around 40 minutes.
There was another guy on the tour on his own and we got to talking during the day and got to know each other. When we got back to the Tokyo Station, we walked over to the fancy Ginza area. This was really great place, but not being a shopper, we just kind of walked around. For dinner I got another noodle bowl, this time it was udon noodles (the first time it was ramen), the noodles were much better then the other place that I went, but the broth was much better at the first place. The main reason I got the soup was that it was featured as a Christmas special and it came with "seasonal" tempura that included shrimp (not as good as the first place), oysters (which were awesome) and something that I have never had before, Chrysanthemum. Actually when I started peaking into to different places, I noticed there were a bunch of places serving this, I guess it is popular in winter or over Christmas for some reason in Tokyo. Anyway, it was surprisingly really good, overall the meal was right on par with the meal the night before.
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