Financial Crisis Randoms

It was a busy day for me today. I was on my feet all day and it was like I was popular although it was all because of work.

Tony, aka trouble boy, was up early this morning. We were able to make a video (Attack Daddy!) on a day when I normally wouldn't have had the time.

On the ride to work today, I tried out these special mitts designed to be worn when riding a bike in the cold. The mitts are attached to the handle bars of the bike so you can operate the brakes and accelerator with your bare hands. Cool.

My wife also bought me these leg pads that you can use to block your shins from the wind. These pads remind me of the ones worn by Hockey goalkeepers. I am not sure if I will wear them, but I suppose I must.

I just lightly touched the rear corner of another car today. I say lightly in comparison to yesterday's.

At school, a man came in inquiring about teaching jobs for an acquaintance of his. He was an American project manager for an Electrical Bike manufacturer here in Wuxi. He told me about a model they manufactured that had a 110 volt battery and could go up to 100 km per hour. These bikes are not available for sale in China, I was sorry to hear. But he did tell me that my 48 volt battery bike could go faster than the 45 km per hour it does now. The bikes here in China are set to go a maximum speed, but if you know how to jigger the device that the restricts the speed, you can go faster. I would like my bike to do 60 km per hour. It would cut about five to ten minutes off my commute if it did.

I had a 90 minute class at a company devoted solely to the economic crisis. The students had many grim things to say. One student told me that thousands of companies have closed in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. Jiangsu has not been hit badly yet because many foreign companies are located here. The students all agreed that the crisis was serious though one confidently predicted China would not be hurt so badly by the crisis as other countries because "it can make everything here.". There have been layoffs in the Wuxi New District and many migrant workers are returning to their hometowns. One student reported that Sony in Wuxi is going to lay off workers. One student said the Iraqi War had something to do with it. Though when I asked the students if George Bush was to blame, most said no. The students said that the sub-prime mortgages and the living on credit were the cause. Iceland, one student told me, has resorted to eating fish because they can't import food.

Tony came downtown this afternoon. He was troubling to his mother that I had to accompany her to the bus stop and wait for the bus with her so she didn't have to carry Tony.

My wife baked a whole chicken, head and feet included, yesterday. I eat the chicken the last few days though my wife ate the head and feet. In Wuxi, chicken feet are very popular.