Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Kathleen, one of my favorite people in the world. Sorry we cannot be there to celebrate with you, but have a good time anyway :)

So many October birthdays - it makes an interesting calendar target for our Mouse to hit. If any delivery date pools are started, we are personally figuring Oct 7.

Other upcoming birthdays (in case I get too busy and cannot say hello): Matt, Ann, Elizabeth, and Natalie.

Update! - work, baby, weather

It's hard to get excited about my first day without a job. My last working day was Sunday because we had 7 days on / 7 days off due to the national China holiday (China is now 59 years old). So, my first day with no job comes right in the middle of a break. I guess next Monday when I have to take the train to Shanghai instead of my company car, I'll really understand the change.

Speaking of Shanghai trips, we checked the Mouse today. She looks good, pretty big (3.3 kg or so, about 7lbs 4ozs), but GP's not ready to have her yet. We'll, GP's ready, but her body isn't. The midwife said 1st babies are usually late, so relax for another week and we'll check again. Ok by me - I'm not in a hurry for that much excitement.

The weather has been cooler, a few sprinkles today and some big winds due to a typhoon nearby somewhere. Since we also have to start paying for our own utilities, I'm glad to have the AC off.

Now if my allergies would stop being so annoying.

A beautiful day for a birthday

The weather is cooling in Suzhou and I was presented with a blue sky and crisp air this morning as I left home. Ah, so nice! It will be a good day; a little work in the morning (finish wrapping up a last project) and then to GP's house to check out her renter, set up the new TV and make it clean for the next tenant. Anybody need a 500 sqft apartment in Suzhou?

More importantly, today is the birthday of a special girl. Happy Birthday, Jordan! Have a wonderful birthday weekend.

Bizzaro World

I read the headlines and wonder if I'm in bizzaro world, you know, where everything is opposite.

The republicans want to spend $700 billion and the democrats are resisting? I thought the democrats were the "spend all the money and more" party and republicans were the "free market economy, it'll fix itself" party.

I should check the magnetic poles and see if they reversed, too.

Emptying the desk, filling the boxes

Four more working days for me. Then a long break during which I'll probably go crazy. Except I'll have a small mouse keeping me busy (good trade, I think).

After 9 years, 1 month, and 1 week at my company, I'm going to miss a lot of people. Since the last 2 years have been here in China, I'll miss these people the most. But, as I've said before, you don't lose friends by going away, you just find new friends to add. Those in your past are still there.

****

Stupid PA tax bureau is p*ssing me off >:^(

Need reading material

I'm looking for any tips, friends, on books to order. I'm going to buy a couple of finance and management books from Amazon to improve myself career-wise and would like to get 3 or 4 leisure books to help fill the hours of job searching / baby care. I'm working through Matt Helm books for the 2nd time and the new David Sedaris ("When you are engulfed in flames" - read it) didn't last long enough.

*****

I left the house about my regular time today, 7:30, and my driver wasn't out front. Usually he is 10 or 15 minutes early, only late 2 times, once due to a flat and once when his alarm didn't go off. I sent him a message to pick me up at Starbucks and I walked over for my venti nonfat latte (pretentious enough for ya?) and poppyseed cake.

Still didn't hear from him - uh oh, probably still asleep. He finally sends me a message ("10 分钟!" = 10 minutes). I said "no problem".

He apologized profusely and I said "who cares? both of us only have 8 more days of work". I'll miss that guy.

Ed Rendell loves my money

I finally emailed the PA Dept of Revenue the other day to figure out where my tax refund was. I mailed the filing at the end of April and hadn't seen a check yet (and JDH wasn't riding a new ST, so I knew it hadn't shown up ;) ).

Their online processing check is partially successful. It showed my filing had been processed, showed the correct refund amount and said I should wait 3-4 weeks for payment. But it didn't say when the filing went through. So, I should wait 3-4 weeks from May? June? August?

The response from a person said it was processed Sept 11. I'm guessing they needed the extra interest off my money. Damn their black souls!

******

The relocation representative came this morning to estimate how much stuff we'll ship to the US. My company basically pays for 2 cubic meters (roughly 750 lbs by air) and we probably have 50-75% of that. The downside is it will take 1 month to get things there (by plane even!), so we can't ship too much necessaries. The big stroller will ship instead of carry on, so I'll build up the massive bod by carrying Mouse for a few weeks.

Mid-Autumn Festival

They celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in China to commemorate . . something. I think it was breaking free from the Mongol rulers. Anyway, we get a day off work and everyone goes out to dinner or gets together with family or both.

GP and I decided to go to the Renaissance (Marriott chain) which is near our house and where we've enjoyed Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners previously. It was a good choice as the food was great and it wasn't very busy.

During the meal, a family (mom, dad, both sets of grandparents and little girl) sat at the big table near us. I noticed the little girl had the ass-less pants on which are so popular for Chinese children. Yes, ass-less pants at a 5-start hotel for a holiday dinner. Such is China.

I remember thinking that I hope there isn't any sort of, um, scene developing from such clothing choices. I don't have anything against the ass-less pants except, I forgot to mention this, she wasn't wearing a diaper. Or underwear.

So, eh, doesn't bother me to know there's a bare ass around as I eat. I just hope nothing happens.

I know, the suspense is killing you.

As grandma took the little girl to the buffet, situated, luckily, on marble floor and not carpet as in the dining area, the girl squatted on the steps and made a puddle. Yes, in the buffet area of the 5-star, Marriott chain hotel.

Grandma was, somewhat surprisingly, taken aback and pointed out to the wait staff that they had a clean up on aisle one. The parents were slightly embarrassed and rushed the girl of to change her pants and PUT A DIAPER ON HER. If my Chinese were good enough, I would have asked why they waited until the horse had left the barn, so to speak. I was kind enough not to make GP interpret as she was embarrassed enough.

A waiter dabbed with a napkin and then the housekeeper came with a damp cloth to finish the cleanup. Luckily it was a "xu xu" and not "eng eng", so I didn't feel compelled to leave. Perhaps I should drop a note to Marriott's customer service line and compliment them on the rapid clean up.

Yesterday during my morning run (damn it was hot), I observed an older man (older than me), relieving his pressures, so to speak, near a bus stop. It wasn't a busy road and there was no bus on site, but it still amazes me how an adult could put his back to the sidewalk (thank jeebuz) and water the grass in broad daylight. I see this on average one to two times every week, often taxi drivers, sometimes ironically parked half a block from the public restroom.

Perhaps this is a sign of the low quality of the public restrooms that people do not want to use them. Perhaps the breeze feels really good. I'm not sure.

Another special Birthday

Happy birthday to KBF! A frequent reader and witty contributer (and my pretty, younger sister - wo de piao liang mei mei - 我的漂亮妹妹). Be happy and enjoy (and tell me when you receive your present).

Special Birthday wish

Please help me wish a dear, special friend happy birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Maura! I hope it is as special and exciting as you :)

I forgot to include duct tape

I realize I've worried some of my loyal readership - perhaps I've gotten carried away with the coming baby and all the cute, sweet things that go along with such.

So, to reassert my manly credentials, I give you the following:











In deference to impressionable children who may view my blog (and because JDH may have a weak heart), I kept the Playboy centerfolds unposted.

Time for the photos

As I mentioned, there was a good haul of good baby stuff from Omaha. Some of our favorites:






Our Singapore friend, Kristen, is moving to Bangkok to teach. We wished her well at a small party.

As I research our potential new neighborhood, I'm heartened by my first search

Back from a great trip (China->US->China)

Hello, friends and followers. I did not check in during my travels for which I apologize and blame a combination of laziness (you are all used to that excuse from me) and business (i.e., the stuff I do in between the lazy).

In a nut shell, the travel to US was uneventful and fairly comfortable. No pretty girls next to me on the airplanes (per usual), but the flights were ok. No problems with hotels, flights or rental cars anywhere during the trip, for which I am very thankful.

Shopping was done and many good things were purchased. Even more than I remember as I review my Mastercard online this morning :^o (Walmart? when did I go to Walmart?) I think I came out ahead at casinos (Council Bluffs, Reno, and CB again), though it was close. I ate a lot of good food, but not too much. I never did get cottage cheese which was on my short list, but at least I had a good steak.

The best part, of course, was seeing family. The little ones are getting bigger and the big ones are just the same as always. I had much fun shopping and gambling with Mom and doing some manual labor around the house. I don't know how long it's been since I climbed on a roof and did wiring. Since it took two tries to do the wiring correctly, I'm sure Dad will recommend I do some more often :)

The Mouse made a haul of new clothes and books. Yikes! I'd complain about having to bring it all back to China, but everything is perfect - so many cute outfits. GP and I spent time yesterday watching the "taking your baby home" DVDs I'd bought and we feel like we are now ready to bath and swaddle a baby. It'll take both of us the first few times, but we'll get lots of practice.

I don't have time to go into all the great detail about the trip, but I'll try to put some photos up later. If I can get the video figured out, I might even have a few short movies.