A vacation dispatch from AKICistan (or Akicistan).

One day into K Family vacation 2009 and no theme for it is yet discernible. One thing that can be said is that it is funny that rain and gray seem to come just as I finished my last class yesterday. But the previous days being hot and steamy, the coolness accompanying the gray was much appreciated.

This will be the first vacation I have ever spent as a father. And it is more than likely that the theme of K Family vacation 2009 will be how mischievous, troublesome, incorrigible, and menacing is one Anthony Arnis Peng Kaulins.

Trying to follow the NHL playoffs can be a pain. It is hard to access the game highlights as it seems to take for ever for the them to buffer. Shame about the Canucks losing out. They join the Maple Leafs as a loser team.

Two days of Vacation 2009 will be spent in AKICistand or Akicistan, the land of good sense and taste. Another five days will be spent in Nanjing. The other two days will be spent in some new land that I haven't invented yet.

I was watching some Seinfeld DVDs this aft. It is hard to believe that the "Not that there is anything wrong with" episode is over ten years old. I watched that episode today and I have to say that the line lost its humorous impact for me. I got a kick out of the line in another episode where George, continually asking if there was Dill in the sandwich, was eventually told by Jerry that it was in fact taragon.

Jenny eventually urged me to play a DVD that Tony would enjoy so, I put in Pee Wee's Playhouse for him. This series was made before the actor playing Pee Wee was caught doing whatever it was that he was caught doing. Whatever it was that he was caught doing caused many people to not want to have anything to do with his work. I always took Pee Wee Herman's work as being clever childish silliness mixed with a bit of adult whimsy. Boycotting Pew Wee was kind of like saying I should sing any Cole Porter songs because he was gay. Who cares?!? Sadly, Pee Wee Herman's work came to halt because of his indiscretion. Anyway, Tony sat and watched Pee Wee's Playhouse attentively. Jenny thought Pee Wee was behaving silly. But she did appreciate the puppetry and animation of the show.

The Bus Drivers in Wuxi are horrible. They possess the same vices as all other drivers here - a lack of consideration for others and an inability or unwillingness to follow the rules. Having a bus full of people, the Bus Drivers drive like they are on an F-1 course. People on a joy ride in Canada hit less bumps and do less swerving than a Wuxi Bus Driver. (*Of course, it doesn't help that Wuxi drivers make turns without bothering to look. It is an act of faith to them that if a dump truck, barrelling down on them as they make a turn, will be able to slow down.)

The latest issue of the China Leadership Monitor is out. It includes articles on Social Order in the wake of the Economic Crisis and Shanghai reclaiming the head of the Dragon.

China's exports drip 23 percent in April. Uggh.

I am making it through the novel A Soldier's Duty by Thomas Ricks. I mentioned before that I found the book at the school library. I am enjoying this novel about the politics and the American Military. But I don't think "Schick" is a good name for a U.S. president, even a fictional one.