Apr 25, 2012

Sunday golf

China golf is similar to American golf in one respect - when you get to a par 3 in the middle of a round, there is a 3 group backup on the tee!

While waiting, our cart was parked in prime position to film the tee shots of the golfers. The hole is a 150 yard par 3 island green!

So channel your inner Gary McCord and create your own analysis of 3 random Chinese golfers.



Apr 16, 2012

Guangzhou Beer Garden

Oh, the 40th birthday party that I talked about below was held in a German Beer Garden restaurant. Yes, they tried to make it authentic. (Yes, the bratwurst and the sauerkraut was delicious!). And yes, they even made the Chinese waitresses dress up in the beer garden outifts. I don't know why this cracked me up, but the sheer incongruity of these outfits is hilarious to me.

80s Fashion is Global!

I went to a surprise 40th birthday party this past weekend for one of my friends at work. He is a Phillipine citizen, and moved to China about 4 years ago. His parents came into town from Manila, and his parents with his sons (their grandsons) made a real nice Power Point presentation showing pictures from my friend's life.

Of course, they started with the baby pictures...and then moved to high school. In the high school pictures, we saw multiple photos of my friend wearing:
- Members Only jackets
- Acid-washed jeans
- Levi's "Button Your Fly" t-shirts

It amazed me that the American late- 80s culture permeated worldwide at the same time - so the kids in the Phillipines were wearing the same stuff I was (and we all were) in 1989.


Apr 14, 2012

Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story" for the NFL Draft

We're two weeks away from Browns' fans best time of the year - the NFL Draft! I admit, I am not much of a draftnik...I have no idea who we may take after the 1st round. However, it is fun to reminisce about past picks and the trivial decisions that other team's make that have a tremendous effect on other franchise's futures.....

I can't believe I forgot this 100% true story from 1995. In 1994, we went 11-5 and lost the division to Pittsburgh; we won a home playoff game vs. the Pats (the last playoff game in Cleveland). Somehow, we had the 10th pick in the draft due to a trade. Belicheck had his eyes set on a tight end from the northeast that will fill a big hole in the offense. With Vinny, Michael Jackson, Leroy Hoard, and this new TE, we would win the AFC Central in 1995 and beyond!

All was going to plan through the first 8 picks; our TE was still on the board. The Jets had the 9th pick. With Warren Sapp still available, the Jets had to take him, right?

 Click here to see who they took, at the 1:19 mark

Well, Belicheck was infuriated. They took our pick! He "threw the phones across the room", accorind to Tony Grossi of the Plain Dealer.

There seemed to be no back up plan. The Browns didn't have a second player in mind, so they called around asking to trade down; they found a taker in San Francisco.

The Browns traded the 10th pick of the 1995 draft to San Fran for their 1st in 1995 (30th overall) and their 1st in 1996.

San Fran went to the podium and chose J J Stokes - who had a decent career with the 49ers.

The Browns, with the 30th pick, chose LB Craig Powell from Ohio State, who didn't amount to much.

I guess 6 years later, Belicheck didn't want a second Brady to slip away from him - so he chose Tom Brady in the 6th round in NE.

Now - for the "rest of the story" - who was chosen with San Francisco's 1st pick in 1996, given to the Browns in this trade?

Apr 10, 2012

The fascination never ends

Sorry for the long delay in posting (and finishing up part 4 of the blog. I know all of you were on pins and needles waiting for it). Mom and Dad have been in town for a week and a half and I have been busy playing tour guide with them over the past 9 days. Some of the activities:
- Guangzhou markets, especially the leather market;
- Beijing, and (of course)
- Macau (the Venetian).

I took the boys up to Beijing with Mom and Dad to see Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall again (as they were off school). Going to Beijing during a holiday weekend means crowds - and that means tons of natives that have never seen a blond boy before......

......after this picture was taken, our female tour guide came back from buying tickets and shooed everyone away. One comment was overheard - in English - "Wow. I am surprised that the mother is Chinese......."

Back to reality

The weekend after Vegas, we met another family at a park in the city. It was a nice afternoon - throwing the baseball around, having the boys run around in the trees.....and then we sat down for a snack. We sat next to a trash can - mistake. Big mistake.

Soon a mother, carrying her 12-18 month old toddler, comes over to the trash can, and lowers her son's pants. I believe you can guess what is going on here.

At least Martin (in the picture) was oblivious to it.  I just can't get used to this part of life here.




Vegas Diary, part 4

Sat, Mar 17

After going to bed around 4, I woke up at.....11 am. That was a bit disorienting. I never do that in Vegas. Layup was still sleeping as well...After the buffet, it was time for the annual visit to the blackjack salon.

The four of us (Wiz and Ira) got there around 1 - and soon after, Leland comes in with his suitcases in tow. He's ready to move into the salon - I'm sure there are rooms in the back somewhere! Unfortunately, he was heading out - signaling the beginning of the end of the trip. Always a sad moment.
The salon experience was a good one this year, with a moderate profit. The highlight was our reenactment of a classic "WKRP in Cincinnati" episode, the one where a tornado strikes the station. In the episode, Andy Travis is injured when a window blows out; he lies motionless on one of the desks. The gang decides to get him away from the window and moves him to a desk across the room. Just as they get there and as they lay Andy down, Jennifer (Loni Anderson) cries out "You idiots, you're not supposed to move an injured person!". So the team then picks up Andy again back to the desk by the window where he originally was.

That was us in the solon. We sat down to a table that was double deck; we decided we wanted a shoe table, so we all picked up at the same time and moved to table across the room with the shoe. Drinks, chips, everything. Just as we sat down, we realized the limits were three times higher than the table we were at. Back we went, with our tails between our legs, to the original table. Some advanced scouting would have been helpful.

The gambling on the trip went downhill from there. I don't think I had a winning session after the salon. I blame Leland for the bad luck. Dinner that night was at CPK, and I finally handed out my gifts from China. I stopped at a gambling market and bought real, made-in-China, playing cards (everyone appreciated) and real,made-in-China poker chips. The chips brought a lot of "WTF" and "gee, thanks" comments from the crew.

After dinner, almost everyone left their chips on the table, so I took them upstairs back to the room. Poker chips weigh a lot, and I put them all in one plastic bag. I got to the lobby near the elevators when - pop! - the bag ripped and all the white chips came flying out of the bag onto the marble floor.

Of course, there was about 20 people around - and all of them started going after the chips. It took about a second for them to realize that these weren't Mirage chips - so they came up and return them to me. It was very embarrassing having stranger after stranger return these poker chips for a good 2 minutes in the lobby.

Oh, and the sound the chips made when they hit the floor! Wow, that was loud.

I lost a side bet to Wiz and Ira on the Murray St / Marquette game; they both took my action to aviod paying the Mirage the juice. In return for the payment, I made them sign my diary to verify the lost money to them for the wager.

After dinner, we tried our luck at craps again, as none of us could roll. Wiz even tried the reverse jinx and was opening rooting for the 7 as we rolled; no matter. None of us could make a point.

We went back to blackjack one last time that night; Ira took one last marker and almost had to demonstrate the new term he taught us; the "walk of shame". If you receive your funds but are yet to sign for them, and then run into some horrible luck and lose all those funds before the pit boss has had a chance to finish all the paperwork and get your signature, you are forced to hang around the table idle until all the papers are done and you sign for your money - the money that's already gone. Ithink he was down to his last chip before embarking on a mini-comeback to stay in the game.

But the session was not good for any of us, especially Layup. After a losing session, Layup got up to walk away with his few remaining chips when the dealer stopped him.

"Don't walk away", I think she said. I can't remember what she said after that, but it angered Layup.

Layup showed her his chips. "I'm leaving. I've had enough" he said.

The dealer was insistent that he stay and color up, or continue playing. Layup argued again that he is going to just leave.

The pit boss came over to see the mini-fuss (she was already close by); she quickly understood what was going on. Layup had his chips out to show the dealer.

The dealer said "I just want to color him up!"

Immediately, without missing a beat, the pit boss said "But he doesn't have enough chips to color!"

Wiz, Ira and I were rolling in laughter as Layup was even more infuriated.

We tried our hand at blackjack swtich one last time - and, of course, had the annual argument with the pit boss about the "soft 22" hand that the dealer has (Ace-Ace, of course). We were also properly instructed on how to signal "switch" and "split". The "switch" requires a turn of the wrist. Wiz was the first to be reprimanded.

It was about midnight at that point, and everyone headed to bed; I got up at 11 and was not at all tired, even though I was on a 5 session losing streak. I sat down and played UTH heads up vs. the dealer for about two hours. During that time, several novices sat down and tried to play. One college guy (and his buddy) sat down next to me - at a $15 UTH table - and said "I love table poker games!" and plopped a $50 down. He was confused when he had to put $30 on the table to start, not $15; he was dealt 7-2 and was gone in 30 seconds.

I still had "money" left in my advance deposit account so I withdrew the remaining amount for the last craps session. I got the funds, was in the middle of the roll when the pit boss - Olga, a 50 year old woman that reminded me of Ms. Fucile from Hereford Social Studies class - came over to my side.

This can't be good.

"Eric, I'm sorry sir, but you don't have that much in your account."

What? I take good notes ! I'm sure I have that much money left!

"No, I'm sorry, you have half of that".

Um...ok.......should I return the other half now?

"Yes, you can hand the half back in."

I tried to give her the chips.

"No, sir, put in on the table"

Um, yes, of course.

How in the hell am I supposed to roll after that ? I quickly picked up, confused, and walked over to the cage. At 2 in the morning, I asked to speak to someone in the credit office.
We went over each time I signed to withdraw and - of course - I missed one Pai Gow tiles session back on Thursday. Olga and the Mirage was right. I apologized profusely and slithered away.

I had to get a confirmation card for our goddaughter - so, at 2:30 in the morning, in 40 degree temperatures, I took the walk to Walgreens. The maintenance staff was waxing the floors and I was not allowed to enter the Hallmark aisle.

What a symbolic way to end the day.

Sun, Mar 18

Not much action on this day; I woke up and went back to the Walgreens where - believe it or not - they had "Congratulations on your Confirmation" cards. In the Las Vegas strip Walgreen's. God does exist in the center of the Sin City. I'm sure our 14 year old goddaughter got a kick out of the "Mirage, Las vegas NV" postmark on the card.

After breakfast, Layup and I had two more gambling sessions that continued the losing streak that started when Leland left. Got to the airport around 2:30; the flights were uneventful. I landed at 6:30 am on Tuesday - and 4 hours later I was sitting at the plant in a 3 day training workshop.

A hard jolt back to reality.