No Show so I can blog.

• I have a no-show student for my 800 PM class so I have some time to do some blogging since my ride doesn't leave till 900.
• I spent the day with Tony and the wife. In the morning, I took Tony to a park nearby our apartment for the first time. The park was very good. It was built on hill and filled with all sorts of stairways, paths, traditional Chinese style buildings and overgrown but manicured brush. It had a statue of a rhino in one corner which I thought was cool. You can see the statue in WTU 166 (see previous entry) and in my other blog. I don't know what Tony thought of it. He was along for the ride as the expression goes. I had to carry him and the pram to get up the stairs. Back at home, Tony showed a reluctance to sit still in his high-chair. He often stands on his seat. Jenny told me that he has even tried to sit on the high-chair's table area. Later in the afternoon, we took a bus downtown so we could let Tony have fun at a McDonald's play area. He had a fit however because some other little girl scared him.
• All of China is disappointed because Liu Xiang had to pull out of the 110m hurdles at the Olympics. I saw his coach cry at a TV press conference. When I went to work, and asked another foreigner about it, he said the injury was alleged. Liu Xiang, the defending Olympic champion was not the favourite at these Olympics so there is speculation that he was not wanted to be seen not winning the event for which there has been so much hype these past four years.
• I have read on the Internet that McCain bested Obama in a debate held by a prominent Evangelical spokesman. I give Obama credit for trying to get the Evangelical vote but it is hard for most of them to believe that they have a place in the Democratic party which is notorious for sneering at them.
• I used to always pay attention to my total Youtube view numbers (which is about 257,000 as I make this entry). Lately, I have been more interested in seeing how my latest uploads, especially my Wuxi Tony Updates (WTUs) are doing. Here is the page I go to see how my latest videos are doing. If a WTU can get at least 50 views, I am happy. The numbers are nothing to crow about compared to others but I have enough regular WTU watchers to make it all worthwhile. I have changed the focus of the WTUs slightly away from just Tony to being in Wuxi with Tony. Not only do you see Tony in WTUs, you see parts of Wuxi that don't get into the guides to Wuxi.
• I bought an XL Hilfiger shirt good or Fall and Winter for 140 rmb at a small hole-in-the-wall import shop near Ba Bai Ban. The shirt is amazingly good quality. The material is thick and not at all ready to fall apart after one washing, as many clothes you can buy in China often do.
• I think McCain can beat Obama, but I wouldn't bet the shop on it. Obama is showing himself to be an ordinary politician with gimmicks that are wearing thin.
• You can get cynical but you have to pay attention to form, sometimes. I receive emails from people wanting jobs that don't dignify responses. Application emails should be written in a formal manner to begin with.
• My Tony loves milk shakes. I gave him a taste of one in McDonalds and he grabbed at my cup wanting more. It is funny to see him suck the shake in and then shrug suddenly at the coolness of it.
• I haven't been on Facebook in weeks. It suddenly ceased to be a habit for whatever reason.
• But I still read Seablogger everyday. It is a good combination of the personal and political written by a good writer whose talent I can only envy.