Back to work in 2008.

Life goes on in the Kaulins household.  We had a major dustup on Tuesday and Wednesday.  That be the wife and I.  Quarrels are a part of Married Life so we have settled into an Uneasy truce.  I will have to change some of my ways.  The wife works hard.  She is looking after Tony which is a 24/7 job for her.  I can help when I can but, Tony likes me only for play.  He already knows that his Mother is the go to person for most of his practical concerns.  There have been times when only his mother can placate him.  Still, I have to do more to placate his mother.

The wife is also doing a lot as far as the Apartment decorating, which starts tomorrow, is concerned.  I could not do it all myself even if I wanted to.  The wife is only able to deal with all the salespeople and decorators.  There are times where I will be the bored bystander.  Still, I do have to show more enthusiasm for the apartment decorating process.  I have stated previously that the buying of property and owning a house has never been something I have been enthusiastic about.  The expense and the maintenance, to me, seem time-wasters that take me away from what I would rather be doing: blogging and philosophizing and reading Evelyn Waugh and Louis L'Amour novels.  As well, the wife has strong opinions about the apartment and it isn't my inclination to fight with her about it.  I have lived in so many places and moved so often, and yet I couldn't tell you what my ideal configuration for my home would be.  I just adapt.  I will adapt to the whatever apartment configuration my wife decides.  She has provided for my ultimate desires: there will be a book shelf and oven in the new apartment.  That is all I ready want (and of course the Internet).  Everything else, she has carte blanche.  Still, she wants me to be more involved in the decorating.  I don't think punching out a workman, if need be, will placate.  I will have to do much more than that.

So I had eschewed making resolutions for 2008, but now I will have to make them.  Do more to make the wife happy, simply put, is my resolution for 2008.

• As I walk to and from work, I will observe people doing stretching exercises in the nearby park.  I have seen old people swinging their arms back and forth clapping in a such ordinary way that it is hard to believe that it is exercise, but that is what they are clearly doing.  This morning, I did see a woman bend down to touch the ground with the palms of her hands.  That was limber.  I could never do that even when I made a point of trying to do everyday.
• As I hinted in the last entry, the mother-in-law is with us to baby sit Tony as the wife goes to supervise the decorating of our apartment.  Ma Ma's  smoking is a problem and she does cheat and smoke inside the apartment.  This is where my wife's wrath can be an advantage.  My wife can chew her out.
• Friday is my first day back to work in 2008.  I still can say HNY! to everyone.
• On New Year's Eve, I ran out of money on my phone sending HNY messages to everyone.  I mention this because someone else had the same complaint.
• I see my video uploaded to Youtube has failed.  I tried again this morning but same result.  I don't know what the problem could be.

Two New Youtube Videos.

Wuxi Tony Update #10.

 

A walk past a Wuxi school playground.

 

Two Photos

Lamb Testicles for sale in a restaurant...

in the above alley.

Chinglish. I hope you can read it. And even if you can read it, I don't think you will understand it.

Sunset as seen from my apartment.

Just me and the Toner.

• I spent the afternoon with Tony, as my wife and the King's wife went to do some shopping for the apartment (they were buying material for apartment decorating).  My wife and I had a bit of a quarrel before she left.  She also admonished me to look after Tony properly or I would earn her eternal wrath.  Ten minutes after she left, Tony took a shit and managed to get all three layers of clothes he was wearing dirty.  Talk about pressure.  I had to strip him naked which wasn't easy in the cold apartment,  find clothes to replace the dirty ones (I needed the wife's help on this but it wasn't the time to phone her.), clean the shit and put new diaper while Tony was protesting like a feminist on her period.  It was an experience for me but an ordeal for Tony because of lack of central heating.  He cried for an hour after my fumbled attempts.  But he at least tired himself out and so slept for three hours.  But I am sure the wife will be angry when she arrives home.
• What are the Chinese up to with their foreign policy?

Wuxi Street Scenes

These photos were taken the morning of January 2.

Cold in Wuxi.

It is cold this morning.  The apartment feels like a fridge.  But I don't mind it.  I don't work today so I can spend a leisurely day under the covers reading a Tom Clancy novel.  And being married,  I can cuddle with the wife.  Va Va Voom!  It is also sunny out so the cold has a crisp feel to it.  It reminds me of Canada.

Toner Update number 9...

Number 9, Number 9, Number 9, Number 9....

The latest update of the critically panned Wuxi Tony Update series:

I will continue to post the videos on a near daily basis.  The series will be up to a thousand by the time I am done.  The videos are really meant only for my parents (Tony's Grandparents).  But you are welcome to watch if you care.

Got the keys.

• In keeping with what I predicted in the previous blog entry, we did go to Macallane, near Metro on the edge of Wuxi.  The place is huge.  It has three buildings all at least three floors tall.  It is bigger than Baoli.  We bought a bed with night stands, and a TV table.   When we decided on the bed we wanted, we got lost trying to find the place we saw it.  To get to Macallane from downtown, you can catch a bus provided by the store behind Ba Bai Ban.
• We then we went to the New House apartment complex office to get the keys for our new and undecorated apartment.  We will start decorating the place next week.  And by decorating I mean we have to put in flooring and walls, the whole shebang, because all we have now is an empty shell with a door and windows.  From New House which in is the Hui Shan district of Wuxi, we took the bus back downtown.  The ride was 45 minutes.  I learned the bus we took does not run past seven in the evening.  I am going to have to hire a driver to take me home from my downtown work three evenings a week.  I will turn into a commuter.
• Hui Shan district is built up.  It looks very vacant at this time.  I wonder if Hui Shan is town-planning run amok.  The King of Wuxi does not seem to think so.  He says it will blossom like the Wuxi New District.
• The Prince of Wuxi
• The King of Wuxi twisted his royal ankle yesterday which affected his gummy leg and so he has a sore back.  I, his my most loyal and sycophantic subject, pray for his recovery.  As should you.
• I wish I could watch the outdoor hockey game. that is being played in Buffalo.
• MMVII.  This is the best end-of-the-year piece I have ever seen.  The most accomplished men and women, more often than not, had no formal schooling in their area of expertise.  I hope this is true.  It will save me the cost of sending Tony to an expensive school.
• Speaking of Tony.  His continual development is a joy to Jenny and me.  Today, he smacked me good with a roundhouse right.  Yes, My son punched me for the first time today.  I am so proud.
• I remember Rush Limbaugh saying that most people on the Left are well-meaning but their ideas are flat-out wrong.  I am starting to think that Rush is wrong.  That is, most people on the Left aren't even well-meaning.  The left I notice has become more and more intolerant.  Look at BDS.  Also, look at this strange editorial that wishes Global Warming would happen so that it could de-populate the Conservative portions of America.  People on the right want on the left to change their minds.  It would seem that people on the left want those on the right to be taken to camps and shot, or as this article seems to hope, drowned.