Tuesday, September 30, 2008
AKIC: Melamine Free
Now that Tony is napping, I can do some blogging.
I am proud to say that my blog and videos are probably the only thing made in China now that is melamine-free. The news about what contains melamine keeps pouring in: baby formula, milk, White Rabbit Candy, chocolate and the latest I heard, bread. This and the other bad news in the world today should make me negative like a banshee. But Life will go on regardless.
I followed the Twins-White Sox tiebreaker on the Major Baseball Site using the program that reports all the action without the benefit of audio or video. The game had its' moments of drama and was a pitcher's duel. The Twins had a runner called out at the plate. The White Sox hit a home run to score the game's only run. So there is a chance of a White Sox - Cubs series as well as a Dodgers - Angels series. Because of the wild card, the chances of a White Sox - Cubs World Series has actually been lessened. In the pre-wildcard format, the Cubs and White Sox both would have won their divisions. (As would have the Rays and the Red Sox would have been eliminated already.)
It must suck for the Tampa Bay Rays. They finally have a winning season and should be in the ALCS right now but they have to risk all being lost in a short best of five series.
The wild card must have been a Democratic Party idea like government provided affordable housing and mortgages.
I live in a new apartment complex but I find the garbage that has already collected here intolerable. Parts of the complex are already going to ruin and the complex isn't finished yet.
I nearly took out a pedestrian on my way to work yesterday morning. I saw a man ahead of me but he suddenly darted in my path as he ran to catch a bus. I honked my horn and swerved to avoid him, he turned and lunged back, and we missed each other by inches.
The school was in holiday mode. I had nothing but one-student classes all day. My Speakers' Corner was lightly attended.
I asked some students to tell me some things that they have to do in their lives. The first student to respond said "eat and sleep". So, I had to explain to them that I wanted them to tell me some goals in life and interesting things to do in life. I was hoping, for example, that someone would say that they had to go see the Great Wall. The next student said "run a marathon" which was more of an answer I was expecting. The next student then said "attend an important event". Could you be more specific I asked.....
September was this blog's best month for visits and second-best month for page views. Thank you to all who take the time to read my modest blog full of its', I know to be, incoherent rants.
If Tony doesn't get his way, his manner of having a fit is to drop down on the floor and scream. And tehn my wife spanks him like you wouldn't believe.
Is the financial crisis the inevitable result of Political Correctness? The idea of giving a mortgage to minorities and others who normally wouldn't get one is clearly a Democratic Party idea. But how is it that the problem festered when the Republicans, who should have known better, were in power in the house and senate? Many of the Republicans, turned out to be using their political instincts instead of their conservative-principled ones. To have done something about the bad mortgages earlier would have earned the Republicans the epithet of racist and elitist and of being only for the rich. A few, including McCain and Bush, tried to stop the debacle but their efforts were feeble and were hamstrung from not being able to be frank about the true reason for cleaning up the mess. It is sad that the story that is generally being accepted about the debacle, too much hyper-capitalism and George Bush, is so untrue.
My wife wanted to go shopping today. I didn't. And so we didn't.
I am proud to say that my blog and videos are probably the only thing made in China now that is melamine-free. The news about what contains melamine keeps pouring in: baby formula, milk, White Rabbit Candy, chocolate and the latest I heard, bread. This and the other bad news in the world today should make me negative like a banshee. But Life will go on regardless.
I followed the Twins-White Sox tiebreaker on the Major Baseball Site using the program that reports all the action without the benefit of audio or video. The game had its' moments of drama and was a pitcher's duel. The Twins had a runner called out at the plate. The White Sox hit a home run to score the game's only run. So there is a chance of a White Sox - Cubs series as well as a Dodgers - Angels series. Because of the wild card, the chances of a White Sox - Cubs World Series has actually been lessened. In the pre-wildcard format, the Cubs and White Sox both would have won their divisions. (As would have the Rays and the Red Sox would have been eliminated already.)
It must suck for the Tampa Bay Rays. They finally have a winning season and should be in the ALCS right now but they have to risk all being lost in a short best of five series.
The wild card must have been a Democratic Party idea like government provided affordable housing and mortgages.
I live in a new apartment complex but I find the garbage that has already collected here intolerable. Parts of the complex are already going to ruin and the complex isn't finished yet.
I nearly took out a pedestrian on my way to work yesterday morning. I saw a man ahead of me but he suddenly darted in my path as he ran to catch a bus. I honked my horn and swerved to avoid him, he turned and lunged back, and we missed each other by inches.
The school was in holiday mode. I had nothing but one-student classes all day. My Speakers' Corner was lightly attended.
I asked some students to tell me some things that they have to do in their lives. The first student to respond said "eat and sleep". So, I had to explain to them that I wanted them to tell me some goals in life and interesting things to do in life. I was hoping, for example, that someone would say that they had to go see the Great Wall. The next student said "run a marathon" which was more of an answer I was expecting. The next student then said "attend an important event". Could you be more specific I asked.....
September was this blog's best month for visits and second-best month for page views. Thank you to all who take the time to read my modest blog full of its', I know to be, incoherent rants.
If Tony doesn't get his way, his manner of having a fit is to drop down on the floor and scream. And tehn my wife spanks him like you wouldn't believe.
Is the financial crisis the inevitable result of Political Correctness? The idea of giving a mortgage to minorities and others who normally wouldn't get one is clearly a Democratic Party idea. But how is it that the problem festered when the Republicans, who should have known better, were in power in the house and senate? Many of the Republicans, turned out to be using their political instincts instead of their conservative-principled ones. To have done something about the bad mortgages earlier would have earned the Republicans the epithet of racist and elitist and of being only for the rich. A few, including McCain and Bush, tried to stop the debacle but their efforts were feeble and were hamstrung from not being able to be frank about the true reason for cleaning up the mess. It is sad that the story that is generally being accepted about the debacle, too much hyper-capitalism and George Bush, is so untrue.
My wife wanted to go shopping today. I didn't. And so we didn't.
Monday, September 29, 2008
The Space Walk.
Reaction to the Space Walk performed by Chinese Sinonauts seemed to be very underwhelming. Talking to the students about it, they didn't have much to say. But then I went to the School's western toilet.
In that cubicle, a sign, like you would sometime see on top of urinals, was posted commemorating the space walk at the height of a sitting person. A very curious thing to do.
In that cubicle, a sign, like you would sometime see on top of urinals, was posted commemorating the space walk at the height of a sitting person. A very curious thing to do.
Chinese National Day is coming!
To celebrate Chinese National Day (October 1), the local municipal government has hung flags on Zhongshan Road, the main drag of Wuxi, China
Sunday, September 28, 2008
In a holiday mode.
Wednesday being China's National Day, I am mentally already in holiday mode although I still work Monday night and all of Tuesday.
At this time, I am vague on what my wife has planned for my days off , of which I will get four in the next seven days. She talked of going to her hometown Beixing but I gave her a look which hopefully put her off that idea. Having only three days to play with, going to Beixing would be such a shame. I need to relax for three days as the time after the holiday will be busy and stressful for me because I will be taking on some more arduous tasks at work. As well, my efforts to get new trainers at the school (including this) have proved fruitless. With one trainer going back to Canada, we will be at least two trainers short.
I saw, or rather heard, another accident, yesterday around noon. This time, I was in a taxi with my wife returning home after shopping in the center of Wuxi. The taxi passed a truck stop from which many trucks were merging onto a road. Merging into traffic is total chaos in Wuxi as it seems that it is everyone for himself, no yielding expected. So it was no surprise to me when I heard a loud clang behind us and turned around to see that two trucks had sideswiped each other.
Dump trucks are a scary thing in Wuxi. The ones in my neighborhood are going as fast as possible looking to me as if their drivers' incentive is to ship as many tons of dirt as possible. With these incentives, Dump truck drivers have no incentive to stop at red lights. So bad are they are doing this that yesterday I saw a fleet of six go through a red.
At this time, I am vague on what my wife has planned for my days off , of which I will get four in the next seven days. She talked of going to her hometown Beixing but I gave her a look which hopefully put her off that idea. Having only three days to play with, going to Beixing would be such a shame. I need to relax for three days as the time after the holiday will be busy and stressful for me because I will be taking on some more arduous tasks at work. As well, my efforts to get new trainers at the school (including this) have proved fruitless. With one trainer going back to Canada, we will be at least two trainers short.
I saw, or rather heard, another accident, yesterday around noon. This time, I was in a taxi with my wife returning home after shopping in the center of Wuxi. The taxi passed a truck stop from which many trucks were merging onto a road. Merging into traffic is total chaos in Wuxi as it seems that it is everyone for himself, no yielding expected. So it was no surprise to me when I heard a loud clang behind us and turned around to see that two trucks had sideswiped each other.
Dump trucks are a scary thing in Wuxi. The ones in my neighborhood are going as fast as possible looking to me as if their drivers' incentive is to ship as many tons of dirt as possible. With these incentives, Dump truck drivers have no incentive to stop at red lights. So bad are they are doing this that yesterday I saw a fleet of six go through a red.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
