Andis Kaulins in China

Monday, October 10, 2011

Mid-October 2011 Jottings

As I was saying in other blogs, I took Tony for a bike ride on Sunday night. Or rather, I should say, I accompanied Tony as he rode his bike in the area near Casa K. The bike Tony was riding was purchased by my wife in her hometown. It was cheap and we got what we paid for. The bike leans to a side, and now its chain keeps coming off. It just so happened that the chain came off on, Sunday evening, as we were wandering through a shopping plaza. It took me about five minutes to get the chain back on. It was a most annoying five minutes because I knew I was quite the sight -- a foreigner fiddling around with a bike chain -- to all the other shoppers. I hoped that we would be left alone. Pride or something on my part required that I fix the thing on my own. I made a point of concentrating as hard as I could on getting the chain back in place. I did hear someone come to us but I ignored him. He eventually went away and I eventually got the chain back in place for Tony to ride back home.
Another great podcast I have found. An Australian and an American talk about a Frenchman named Napoleon. The podcast is enjoyable, informative, well-researched, and funny.
The Wuxi Metro, the official NFL fantasy team of Wuxi Expats, have a record of three wins and two losses. They are now in a three-way tie for first place in their division.
Here is another great podcast about the history of Rome.
Wuxi China Expatdom Film Appreciation Society President to address the United Nations General Assembly.

October Holiday Video Number Nine

Sunday evening, Tony was sitting on the couch and playing Angry Birds on his mother's mobile phone. His father seeing this decided that Tony should go outside. "A four year old playing video games! That just won't do!" reasoned Tony's father.

Hearing from his father that they were to go outside, Tony initially was very upset. He cried like a youngster would who was thinking he was being deprived of something. "No go outside! No go outside!" he screamed and pleaded at his father. But he quickly changed his mind when his mother told him that he could ride his bicycle. And he was out of the apartment before his father.

Tony lead his father to a public square near their apartment. He told his father to sit down while he rode the square's wide spaces.

All of sudden, Tony came to where his father was sitting, saying "pa le!" and sat on his father's lap which was very uncharacteristic of him. Tony's father then noticed that Tony had his ears plugged with his fingers. Dad then understood that Tony had been saying he was scared (pa le means I'm scared in Chinese), and that he wanted his father to protect him. Tony had been scared by loud noises that were coming from a nearby construction site. Dad knew that Tony was scared of Fireworks, of which there are lots in China, and told Tony that were no fireworks being let off. Saying this satisfied Tony and he went back to his bicycle.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Comments of the passing scene

I get up, I do my bit to get Tony to school, I take the bus to work, I work if you can call it that, I take the bus back home, and do my little bit to help Tony and Jenny -- that's my life. I don't go out of this well-grooved path much to see much and meet others. I get my news of the world through the Internet and I listen to a lot of podcasts. That is how I know and don't know whatever it is that I think.

Keep this disclosure in mind as I make my comments about the passing scene:

The Wall Street Protest movement is the Left's version of the Tea Party. Some students have mentioned to me that they have heard about the Wall Street Protests. They look at me blankly when I say that there had already been protests about what was happening to the American economy -- the Tea Party protests. Something is obviously not right about America -- I will give that much to the protesters -- that is, the protesters who aren't kooks or parasites. Unfortunately, all that the protesters seem to advocate will only make matters worse -- the tragedy of the Left, alas.
The Winnipeg Jets lost their first game of the season 5-1 to the Montreal Canadiens. Not a bad sign I hope.
Steve Jobs died. I only had one Apple product in my life: the Ipad2. It is a wonderful device. I heard someone state that in 500 years, they will remember Steve Jobs. I question this statement. Jobs didn't produce the Light Bulb, Telephone, or Internal Combustion Engine. You can say he made a great telephone. But his devices simple built up on many things that were already there.
Still, Jobs was a great capitalist entrepreneur. I wonder how many of the Wall Street Protesters have portable gadgets and take them so for granted. Some probably feel they are hard done by because they don't have an I-Phone. I have a cheap Nokia myself, and my prospects of getting an I-Phone in the future are very remote. Yet with my cheap Nokia, I can do things that I could only dream about when I was a self-absorbed teenage Leftist.