We have our fourth!

When Steve, Kermit and I play golf over the summer, we usually are lacking a 4th to go along with us. I need to get this guy's number and invite him to the US for a few weeks - just for the comedic value......

(Please God, let my swing never look like this in 40 years....)
 

NFL Week 7: Pad Thai

Ah, Pad Thai. I've had some bad memories with this dish over the years. It all started when I got my first job in Dayton out of school. About the 2nd month I was there, some of the guys were going to the Thai/Vietnamese restaurant in a suburb....so I went along. At that point, in 1994, the most experience I have had with Asian food was Chinese (and a lot of it!)

So I ordered the Pad Thai - noodles and meat? What could go wrong?

It was disgusting. It was drowned in fish sauce, which I thought (and still do) is the most vile sauce to cook with. It was drenched in it, and I couldn't finish it. I never joined the group again when they went back to this place in Beavercreek.

Fast forward 10 years in 2004 - when we lived in Iowa; again, I joined a group as we went to the Thai/Cambodian restaurant on the outskirts of Iowa City; again, I tried the Pad Thai. The dish was a bit better - less flooded with the sauce - but the pungency of the entire restaurant soured the dish for me. How can you enjoy it with the fish sauce in the air? I think I went back once or twice - but no more - in our 2 year stay in Iowa.

(That place was near the river; the big flood of 2006 pretty much directly hit the plaza where the restaurant was. I wondered if it reopened.....in the same place? )

Then we go to earlier this year - February - when we went to Thailand for Chinese New Year. We went to a local, outdoor restaurant one night; as I walked in, I saw somebody at another table eating Pad Thai?

"That's Pad Thai? That looks delicious!" So, I tried it again for the third time.

As you can expect, having Pad Thai done by the natives is 100000% better than a Dayton or Iowan version. Perfectly fried, no mystery fish sauce on it - noodles, bean sprouts, chicken/shrimp....Excellent. Just like it is advertised!

It's now in my top 10 dishes I get over here when eating at a hotel or traveling for work. It truly is amazing the difference in the dish and how it is prepared. I know, I shouldn't be surprised.

I think the national media is having the same feeling when it comes to Brandon Weeden. All they remember about Weeden is the awful game 1 performance against  the Eagles. Make no mistake, he was awful in that game.
But weeks 2-6 have been solid - but not spectacular. Yes, there are some rookie mistakes resulting in interceptions...but the arm is there to deliver the long passes to Gordon and others. And he is developing in reading through the progressions and finding the tight end, or the 3rd  receiver. The stats have been very good in the last few weeks.
Slowly, some are starting to realize that Weeden is not the disaster they saw in week 1. Simmons actually had some good things to say this week in his preview column. In a few more weeks, the memory of the Dayton Pad Thai will wear off and a new impression of Weeden will emerge. This guy could be the Browns QB for the next 5-7 years.

This week? The Jeff Zahn magic continues in Indy, as my dad will be there in attedance again and the Browns will win again, 27-24.

To the other games:
Buf 24, Ten 16. Less a vote for Buf but against Tennessee. I think they are one of the worst teams in the league......how do we explain last week then? See below.

Dal 27, Car 17. Yes, I am falling for this. I can't see Dallas losing this game - they are desperate.

Hou 27, Bal 24. Clearly, the two best teams in the AFC. I think they are evenly matched.

Min 23, Az 10. The Vikes are a solid team at home.

TB 27, NO 23. The Saints had a bye last week - but I'm thinking that the lack of a coach prevents them from getting the full benefit of the bye. And their only win was against Norv....does that only count as 1/2 a win?

GB 24, StL 20. I do like the Rams here, but something tells me the light has clicked on in the Packers after last week.

NYG 31, Was 27. Should be a shootout - and the Giants should be able to move the ball easily against the Skins D.

NE 31, NYJ 24. The Jets are slowly getting better, and should keep this close.

Oak 27, Jax 17. The weak link for the Raiders is the pass D - but Jax doesn't have the offensive fire power to take advantage.

Cin 24, Pit 21. Two desperate teams here. I think Pit is overrated. It was amazing to see Ten - and before, Oakland - move the ball at will against them. Cin needs this win here....and being at home is the difference.

Chi 27, Det 13. I watched most of the Lions game last week - their O looked awful for 3 quarters. Hard to see them finding a rhythm against the Bears.

Best bets: 14 of them. Last week: 6-8-1; overall: 49-40-4

Buf -3 1/2
Ten/Buf under 46
Dal -2
Bal +7
Min -6 1/2
Az/Min under 41
TB +1 1/2
Was/NYG over 51 1/2
NYJ +10 1/2
NYJ/NE over 47 1/2
Oak -6
Cin +1
Chi -6 1/2
Det/Chi under 47

Supercontest picks: Last week: 3-2; overall: 19-10-1
Buf -3 1/2
Bal +6 1/2
TB +2 1/2
Oak -4 1/2
Cin +2 1/2

 

NFL Week 6: Hong Kong Cuisine

I have to admit, I have not had too much experience with true Hong Kong food. Whenever we get there, it's an escape from the life in China - so we head to the 24-hour breakfast diner to have pancakes and eggs, the Mexican restaurant for Vanilla Margaritas (cue Dan Hicks: "Expect anything different??" - ed), the Italian restaurant right next to our hotel, or the English fish and chips places on Stanley on the other side of the island.

It's rare that we walk the street trying to find food - but that's the situation we found ourselves in in February, when Freddie and I went to Hong Kong for his birthday. The father of his best friend from Cincinnati is a pilot for Northwest, and the dad and Freddie's friend came in for a quick 3 day weekend. It was wonderful, and a great treat for the four of us to run around Hong Kong - and to see the city through the eyes of 10 year olds.

Most of our meals were Western-based; Freddie's dinner the next night for his birthday was at the Italian restaurant above (where his poor friend couldn't keep his eyes open due to the jet lag), and the next night dinner was at Dan Ryan's Steakhouse, where I told Freddie: "You will get the Petit Filet Mignon and you will LIKE IT!"

However, when the plane landed, we got to the hotel, and it was 9 pm; Freddie was wide awake and excited to see his friend, so all of us went out walking the streets in search of.....nothing in particular.

And then we found a street stand that was selling fried foods. These 14 inch fried bread sticks caught our eye - "ooooooh, we must have them".

They didn't even need sugar. It was pure fried, airy dough for $7 HKD - less than $1 USD. Yes, it was leaking grease while we were eating - but no matter. It filled a need and seemed like comfort food for all of us - even though it was 100% Hong Kong.

God, I hope the Bengals are like the fried dough sticks for us. We need a win. We have been playing tough and hard over the past 5 weeks - with nothing to show for it. Yes, we are young, and yes, that means we will do dumb things (although shouldn't a coaching staff take care of that???). But we have been in every game (for the most part). However, if we don't get a win soon, I feel things will start to implode here. It's been 11 games since a win. 11.........and that win was a 14-10 ugly one vs. Jacksonville last year. We need the fried dough---- a satisfying win. Today. 28-20, Browns.

On to the games:

Atl 31, Oak 17. I know, too easy. But Oakland can not play on the road - and Atlanta has a decent defense.

Dal 23, Bal 21. Just a hunch here. Dallas off a bye, and they should be able to move the ball vs. the Ravens. The question is how many turnovers will Romo have?

Mia 24, StL 13. Bradford was horrible at home against the Cards last game. I don't see them competing well on the road.

NYJ 30, Ind 20. Indy is off a very emotional game (with their coach issues), and the Jets showed last week they can move the ball a bit.

Phi 21, Det 20. Which to pick? The offense that self destructs, or the defense that can't stop anyone? The offense that can only pass, or the D that can stop the pass?

TB 16, KC 13. Brady Quinn 2.0 begins! I didn't realize the Chiefs had Brian Daboll as well. Good luck with that!

Az 20, Buf 19. I think we need to discuss how good Arizona truly is. And the Bills can't throw three stink bombs in a row, can they?

NE 24, Sea 17. Yes, yes, a sucker pick. I just don't see Seattle being able to score if needed to keep up with the Pats.

Was 27, Min 20. Even with the status of RG3....Minnesota has not been tested on the road.

SF 31, NYG 27. How much revenge is on the Giants' mind?

Hou 30, GB 21. Green Bay has been a bit off, and this place - a rockin' Sunday Night crowd against a good D- is not the place to get better.

Den 24, SD 17. If not for the fumbles last week, the Broncos would have been in the game vs. the Pats.

Best bets: 14 of them. Last week: 8-6; total: 43-32-3.

Atl -9 1/2
Dal +3
Mia -5
NYJ -3
Ind/NYJ over 44
Det/Phi under 47
TB/KC under 40 1/2
Buf +4
NE -3 1/2
Was pk
NYG +7
NYG/SF over 46
Hou -3 1/2
Den pk
Den/SD under 48 1/2

Supercontest picks: last week: 4-1. Overall: 16-8-1
Mia -3 1/2
Dal +3 1/2
NYJ -3
Hou -3 1/2
Den +1 1/2

 

When Central Planning goes awry

As I alluded to in the last post, last week was an official holiday week in China. It was called "Golde Week", as the mid-Autumn festival fell on the dar before the National Holiday week - so everyone in the country had 7 days off.

In general, this week and Chinese New Year are the only times where regular working Chinese people can actually travel and see the sights of China. It is a very busy time, and most local businesses are closed....that's why the advice to ex-pats for these holiday periods is to just leave the country.

The government wanted people to enjoy their time off, so in order to generate interest for traveling, they declared that all toll roads would be free. The tolls are quite expensive; for example, a toll road from downtime to the airport is about 20 km and costs roughly 20 RMB - about $3. that's a lot for normal people.

So - we have a national holiday, with 1.3 billion people celebrating, and the toll roads are free - what could go wrong?

Plenty.

Record crowds were seen at all the national attractions. How about these for the Great Wall?

 

 

And the traffic? 12, 14 hour delays were reported as routine. Some pictures are below.

What's that saying? "Be careful what you wish for......"

Eric the romantic

As many of you know, Janice's birthday was on Saturday (Oct 6th). I really outdid myself for her birthday dinner this year!

2010: Sunset dinner on the beach in Malaysia
2011: Dinner at an intimate French restaurant in Vietnam (this was an excellent meal).

2012: Well, we flew home that night into Hong Kong from Bali, and we were making the 2 hour drive home after the flight (starting at 10 pm). So - since Burger King was closed - I got 15 Chicken Tenders, Cajun Fries, and Popcorn Shrimp from Popeye's in the airport for our dinner in the car for the ride.

Let's just say that the fries taste awful after sitting around for 15 minutes.

 

NFL Week 5: Indonesian Cuisine

Back at home again after a week of vacation in Bali for the China National Holiday week. It was nice to get away for the week - I'll have more on that in the next post - and great to have Don, Mike and their wives spend the week with us!. Taking a week listening to the waves crash is not a bad way to live.

Also, I got the slingbox working correctly on Monday morning, and I was watching the end of the 1 pm and 4 pm games while sitting outside on a lawn chair on the grass in the moonlight with the waves in the background. Yes, I was wearing a 2 inch layer of "Off" while doing that.

One of the highlights was biking down the "mountain" of Bali with the group. It was a great ride as we went through rice fields, small villages, and even passed a parade. At the end, we had a lunch buffet that "represented local Balinese cuisine". My (second) plate is seen above! Clockwise from the white rice:

- Steamed Rice
- Fried Noodle (yes, two starches...sue me)
- Some sort of chicken stir fry dish. I think it may have been a "bean Curd" chicken dish, but I can't recall. It was not memorable.
- Peanut Tofu stir fry. Delicious. The star of the show. As you probably know, tofu does not have a lot of flavor (if any), so it carries the flavors of the spices/sauces in the dish. Well, how can you go wrong with Peanut sauce? Instead of just scooping up the peanut sauce and drinking it with a sppon, this is a more elegant way to get your peanut sauce fill. Just fantastic.
- Smoked Duck and Smoked Chicken. Pulled off the bone as well as any BBQ joint in the US. Tender and wonderful.
- Indonesian mixed vegetables, which seem to be 90% minced green beans and some spices. Pretty good!
- Vegetable roll, which is the same mixed vegetables rolled into a cabbage roll. This was very enjoyable, especially with - you guessed it ! - the Peanut sauce in the middle!

You may be seeing the same dished repeated over again in a lot of the southeast Asia posts....Rice, noodles, stirfry, even tofu.......well, that's how the current season is going. I can guess how most of the Browns game will be played.  A lackluster 1st half with some mistakes causing us to be in a hole; then in the 2nd half, Weeden is unleashed and we make a few plays to score....and the defense does just enough to get our hopes up but then lets up the big play to have the win be out of reach in the end.  I think it will be the same way this week with the Giants....we will be down 17-6 at half; James Brown will then cut into your game in the 3rd to say "The plucky Browns are not going away!" as we make it 17-13; it will be 20-20 early in the 4th when Brown will again come in and say "In New York, the Giants are putting this game away on a 75-yd TD pass to Cruz, followed by a pick six from Weeden- who has 350 yards passing". Giants, 34-20.

I don't see how we win given that our two best receivers (Massaquoi and Benjamin) are out. We have Stone Hand Little, Decapitated Cribbs and 100% raw Josh Gordon as our receivers for today. At least this is the last game for Haden's suspension.

On to the games:

Mia 26, Cin 23. I have gone back and forth on this one all week over Vodka Tonics while overlooking the beach. Who has Cincinnati played? Any good defenses?

GB 23, Ind 20. I kept waiting for the Pack to put the hammer down on the Saints last week - and it never came. Maybe....maybe....they have slipped a bit. The loss of Jennings certainly hurts.

Bal 31, KC 21. Is this the week where Brady Quinn makes his reappearance in the NFL? Brady and Romeo, together again....

Pit 20, Phi 17. Don't underestimate the Eagles' D. It is good.

Atl 31, Was 27. Still don't have a good feeling of either team. But Washington is similar to Carolina, and I think the Skins will hang close.

Chi 23, Jax 13. I can't see the Bears letting down in this game with a bye week next.

Car 24, Sea 14. I am concerned about Marshawn Lynch vs. the Panthers' D, but the way to beat Car is through the air -and I don't think Seattle can do that yet.

Min 20, Ten 17. Two weak offenses here.

SF 27, Buf 24. SF's offense is average if you don't give them anything....and I am hoping that Gailey and the Bills will not have a repeat of last week.

NE 34, Den 27. Who will stop who in this game?

NO 27, SD 24. Your guess is as good as mine here. Which Saints team will show up? Will Norv actually coach a good road game?

Hou 23, NYJ 20, OT. I can't believe that Rex Ryan will let the Jets be embarrased - again - especially on Monday night. They will throw everything in the playbook at them - including Tebow - and still wind up a bit short.

Best bets: 14 of them. Last week: 9-6-1; overall: 35-26-3

Mia +3
Ind +6 1/2
GB/Ind under 48
Bal -6 1/2
Bal/KC over 46
Phi/Pit under 43
Atl/Was over 50 1/2
Chi -5 1/2
Car -2 1/2
Ten/Min under 44
Buf +9 1/2
Buf/SF over 45
Den/NE over 51 1/2
NYJ +7 1/2

Supercontest: last week: 3-2. Overall: 12-7-1.
Mia +3
Ind +7
Chi -6
Car -3
NYJ +8
 

NFL Week 4: Taiwanese Cuisine

Well, another loss last night to the Ravens (9 in a row now), and another loss where we had a chance - maybe not a strong possibility, but at least a chance - to win. Weeden's pick 6 was obviously a key turning point, but the constant drops by Little stymied drive after drive. This team is young and will make mistakes - but these types of losses are a bit gut wrenching and painful.

Kind of like my experience with Taiwan food on our only trip there. I may have blogged about this in the past - ah! Here is the post! We landed Friday afternoon and headed that night to Taipei 101, the largest building in Taiwan and for a while, one of the top 3 tallest buildings in Asia. We got some dinner in the food court in the building. The boys had Subway; I can't remember what Janice got. I saw some noodles being made in one of the stands - mmmmmm! What a smell! I think there was chicken and some soup involved.....

I got my order, and it didn't smell as good. Janice now says that she remarked that it "didn't smell too good", but I was too hungry to put it down. I finished the dish and we had a good tour of Taipei 101.

It was about 2 am when I was in the bathroom with the heaves. I do remember sitting at the hotel breakfast buffet on Jan 2, watching the awful UConn - Oklahoma bowl game (Randy Edsell, anyone?) and sitting at the table thinking, "who can eat anything right now?".

That night, I was forced to roam the streets for ginger ale and found Shasta! So that's my memory of Taiwan food. Shasta. I guess Phil Dawson is the Browns' Shasta.

The post is going up early this week, as we head out of town tomorrow for Hong Kong to meet Don, Mike and the wives, and then off to Bali. I have the Ryder Cup on TiVo so we can all watch on Monday poolside/beachside.

On to the games:

NE 27, Buf 17. I don't get it - the Patriots are off 2 losses; they have to be desperate and I can't see Belicheck letting the Bills hang around.

Det 24, Min 23. I don't think Detroit's D is any good, and this should be close.

Atl 28, Car 16. A one-dimensional team (Car) will not go into Atlanta and stay within 7.

SF 24, NYJ 13. Boy, the Jets are struggling on O.  And I think the Niners will be eager to get back to the winning ways after losing last week.

SD 27, KC 24, OT. I just don't believe in Romeo ("We got the first pickle out of the jar") and the consistency of his offense.

Hou 27, Ten 13. Tennesse threw everything in the playbook at Detroit last week - Houston should easily stop them.

StL 20, Sea 16. Talk about a letdown here for the Seahawks. The Rams are decent at home.

Az 20, Mia 19. The Dolphins D is good - and this will be low scoring.

Den 27, Oak 24. Denver's pass D is not that good - and we saw what Oakland can do against an weak-to-average pass D last week (*Pittsburgh*cough)

Cin 23, Jax 20. OK, so I am starting to be a bit impressed with the Bengals. I have not seen the Jags that much.

GB 41, NO 21. Don't you think the Packers want to come out and score 3 TDs on their first 3 drivers, just to prove a point?

TB 26, Was 20. The classic "Bad O vs Bad D" game. There's also the good O (Was) vs. good D (TB). When in doubt, the go with the home team!

NYG 20, Phi 17. I think this will be a defensive game - Philly has a great D, while the Giants should be able to pressure Vick.

Dal 24, Chi 17. How are the Bears going to score? They haven't shown much on O so far this year.

Best bets: 16 of them. Last week: 8-9. Overall: 26-20-2
NE -4
NE/Buf under 50 1/2
Min +4
Atl -7
SF -3 1/2
SD -1 1/2
SD/KC over 44
StL +2 1/2
Mia +5 1/2
Oak +7
GB -7 1/2
NO/GB over 53
TB -2 1/2
NYG +2
NYG/Phi under 47 1/2
Dal -3 1/2

Supercontest: Last week: 2-2-1; overall: 9-5-1.
Preliminary picks:
NE -4
StL +2 1/2
SF -4
GB -7 1/2
TB -3

 

Barbed Wire, anyone?

This photo was snapped by a friend of mine - and I thought I'd share it. This was seen at the top of a 6-7 foot high wall outside a factory.

Talk about low cost! Is this how they keep the wages down?

 

NFL Week 3: Xi'An (Shaanxi) Cuisine

First of all, a big welcome to China for our dear readers Don and Mike! They have landed here in China for a 2 week excursion in the Estern hemisphere. I have word that they already have their "children peeing in the streets" pictures and have seen more than their share of 40-year-old men's bellies. Congratulations! See you on Friday!

The five of us took a long weekend this weekend and went to Xi'An, home of the Terra Cotta warriors. The Terra Cotta excursion took about 3 hours total; to fill the day, we went to a silk factory (slash- tourist trap) and a home of someone living in a cave. Literally! We went to a cave to see someone's abode, which is a 10 x 30 dungeon with one bed, one light bulb (don't carry Martin in on your shoulders, as he is well within reach of the bare, single electrical cord that enters the cave), and a brick as a pillow.

The cave dweller, in perfect English, asked me "So how is Tim Couch working as the star QB of the Browns?"

Lunch was the local Shaanxi cuisine - and it was average-to-below average. A picture of the dishes is included here. A quick description, starting from 12 o'clock and going clockwise:

- a bowl of rice;
- steamed cauliflower (and Janice was the only one to touch this)
- cabbage fried in oil (which is a wonderful staple of many regional cuisine. The only way to eat cabbage!)
- some chicken mix that looked like Kung Pao Chicken, but without the spices and any heat at all (it was room temperature)
- some imitation pepper steak that was bland;
- some pork and vegetable concotion that looked bad but tasted ok;
- Chinese greens;
- egg drop soup.

Dinner that night was a 10-course dumpling meal, which was good (too bad my battery died, so no immeidate pictures). Xi'An is famous for dumplings, and many were good; however, the "vegetable" dumpings tasted a lot like ground-up Oscar Meyer Wieners.

So the meals we had were ok - until we got to the airport today to leave. We checked in, had some time - and noticed....could it be???? Yes!!!!! A Dunkin Donuts!

 I immediately ordered a Boston Cream donut, my favorite....aaah, the comfortable memories of a Boston Creme donut.....

....just like the memories of a Browns-Bills game. Many good memories here on games between the two teams:
- the 34-30 Browns victory in the playoffs in 1989, sending us to round 3 of the AFC Championship series with the Broncos; we would be the last AFC team to beat the Bills in the playoffs for 5 years.
- the Monday Night loss in Cleveland in 1995 when Al Michaels said "tomorrow" would be the day the OJ Simpson verdict would be announced;
- the memorable 8-0 victory in Cleveland in 2007 when Dawson hit two field goals in a blizzard (one, a 47 yarder,easily the hardest field goal I've ever seen hit on TV,including Vinatieri's). I watched this in warm Southern California with Derek.
- A Monday Night win in Buffalo in 2008 when Dawson hit a 56-yarder;
- The worst game I ever saw on TV in 2009; Derek Anderson completed 2 passes in the entire game......and we ended up winning, 6-3!

Buffalo-Cleveland matchups. It's like comfort food. It may not be good, it may not always agree with you, but it is something familiar......like a Dunkin Donut.

On to the games:

Chi 26, StL 13. I think the Bears D line will overwhelm Bradford and the Rams.

Dal 31, TB 20. Tampa has the worst pass D in the league - and that's Dallas's strength.

SF 20, Min 14. A closer game than many think, some letdown here for the Niners after the win at Lambeau and a Sunday night win at home.

Det 24, Ten 16. The Lions are desperate, and the Titans are pretty bad.

Was 31, Cin 21. I know a lot of people are talking about Washington's injuries on D - but Cincinnati's D is not that good. 44 vs. the Ravens and 27 vs. the Browns?

NYJ 23, Mia 13. I think the Jets D can stop an average-to-below average offense like the Dolphins.

NO 34, KC 31. I don't think the Saints D can stop anyone right now -even the mistake prone Chiefs' offense.

Ind 20, Jax 17. Should go down to the wire - and another Vinatieri FG.

Phi 20, Az 17. Both defenses are very good in this game - should be decided at the end by a FG.

Atl 27, SD 23. I worry about a letdown here for the Falcons - but the Chargers have not been tested at all yet.

Den 28, Hou 20. Talking about not being tested - the Texans have played the Dolphins and the Jaguars. That's not exactly two offensive powerhouses there. How will they do vs. a good offensive team?

Pit 23, Oak 16. I know this is a game that the Steelers typically don't do well in, but I just can't see this Oakland team do anything against the Steelers D, which is great against the run.

Bal 31, NE 24. A tough game. I know Belicheck is great after a loss, but I can't see the supposed best team in the AFC lose this one to a one-dimensional Patriots team.

Sea 23, GB 20, OT. I just don't believe the Packers are themselves - yet. They are not playing close to a 15-1 team .

Best bets: 17 of them. Last week: 8-7-1; overall: 18-11-2.
Chi -7
Dal -8
SF/Min under 42 1/2
Det -4
Det/Ten under 47 1/2
Was -3
NYJ -2 1/2
KC +8
KC/NO over 53
Ind/Jax under 43
Atl +3
Den +2
Pit -3 1/2
Pit/Oak under 45 1/2
Bal -3
Bal/NE over 48 1/2
Sea +3

Supercontest picks: last week: 3-2; overall: 7-3
Chi -7 1/2 (oooh, that hook....)
Dal -7
NYJ +3
Den +2 1/2
Sea +3



 

NFL Week 2: Yunnan Cuisine

Spent most of the morning trying to upload those videos for the post below. It takes a while - I don't know what it is, but I can only uploade one at a time, then I have to restart the computer....painful.

As I said in the post, we really didn't know what to expect from the food last night at the Yunnan restaurant. It turned out that this was close to what people think of as Chinese food - without the rice!
Here is a picture of the dishes we ordered - I will try to explain each dish, starting with the black dish in the 9'oclock position, going clockwise:

- Black "fungus" with vegetables; the local mushroom, served with other local veggies. The mushroom was ribbon like and very floppy - and tasted just fine.

- Pork and pepper mixture, served with the lettuce you see in the middle. Very close to the "Lettuce wraps" you get at PF Chang.

- Chicken with the local mushrooms. Sense a trend here - what the local dish is? Strips of pork stir fried with the local mushroom. Very good!

- Lotus root in sauce. I'm not a big lotus fan, but it was ok, as it stayed crunchy in the sauce

- Spicy hot eggplant (in the hot pot). By far the spiciest dish on the table, the dish came out boiliing was a  stew of primarily eggplant and peppers. Once the temperature of the dish came down, we tried it - it was just about on the edge of my tolerance for spiciness.

- "Shredded pumpkin". That was the translation, but it was clearly not pumpkin. More like a squash/zucchini sort of thing; shredded and lightly sauced.

- Fried noodles. Simple and just a bit flavored - for Martin and Frankie

- Carrots with pork; the dish was 90% shredded carrots and 10% pork. I loved this dish the best, no extra frills in there with unneeded flavors. Just carrots and pork, with some brown sauce on it. Wonderful.

- Steamed buns with pork filling. Exactly what you would expect.

The grand total for these dishes, plus the tea and the 4 (1/2 liter) bottles of beer? 330 RMB - about 50 dollars - for all of us.

This dinner reminds me (hopefully) of this week for the Browns. I am expecting the worst - going out to an unknown Chinese restaurant with a 4 year old and a 21 month old toddler could be disaster. A disaster like Brandon Weeden's 5.4 QB rating.
However, it was surprising and exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. A diamond in the rough. That's about what I can hope for with the Browns this week. We all know the expectations - Weeden's a bust, Richardson can't run behind the line, Haden is out now, so teh D will suffer..... let's rise above all that and shock the world.

Let's put a little carrot and pork dish on the table on Sunday afternoon. Cmon Weeded - you are better than what you showed in week 1.
(and if he isn't, just please, have the dignity not to rub it into my face).

Onto the games.

NYG 23, TB 13. I see Tampa as a team that will consistenly score 10-17 points and use their D to win; I see the Giants as just desperate enough to score in the mid 20s.

NE 30, Az 20. Classic back-door cover. NE will be up 20 most of this game.

Ind 23, Min 17. Indy's front 7 is good and should shut down Peterson. I'll take my chances with Luck at home vs. Ponder on the road.

NO 27, Car 20. Yes, yes, I know I am falling for this one. I don't believe in the Panthers.

KC 20, Buf 17. I believe that the Chiefs can move the ball and score; I don't think the Bills can. (until next week? -ed).

Phi 30, Bal 24. Baltimore coming off an emotional game (gack) and everyone is rating the Eagles too low.

Mia 20, Oak 16. A team coming off a late late Monday game flying to Miami for a Sunday 1 pm Eastern game? Yes, please.

Hou 27, Jax 17. I just can't see the Jags scoring more than 17 against the Texans' good D.

Sea 27, Dal 24. How many times does it happen in a year when a supposedly good team heads to Seattle and loses? Remember Baltimore last year?

Was 23, StL 21. I'll wait to jump on the RG3 bandwagon for a bit......

Pit 27, NYJ 13. Let's not forgot that the Jets still hav trouble scoring. I think LeBeau will have something cooked up for the Jets and Sanchez.

Ten 24, SD 19. The Titans did not look bad against the Pats last week, and I'm not sure about San Diego. Aren't they one-dimensional?

SF 31, Det 20. The new and improved SF pass offense vs. the weak Detroit secondary.

Atl 28, Den 27. Should be close and exciting the whole way.

Best bets: 16 of them. Last week: 10-4-1

NYG -7
TB/NYG under 43 1/2
Az +13 1/2
Ind +3
NO -2 1/2
KC +3
KC/Buf under 44 1/2
Phi -2 1/2
Bal/Phi over 46
Mia +2 1/2
Hou -7
Sea +3
Dal/Sea over 42 1/2
Pit -5
Ten +6 1/2
SF -7

Supercontest update: 4-1 last week. I will try not to make any obvious typos this week, Wiz.

Ind +1
Phi -2.5
Sea +3
Pit -6
Ten +6
 

Summary of a night out

The two older boys had a birthday party to go to last night (laser tag!), so Janice, Martin and I teamed up with another family (that had 2 boys also attending the party, so their 21 month old daughter came along) and we went out to an unknown restaurant in Guangzhou. It served Yunnan food,which is a province in Southern China - bordering on Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. The food was reviewed as "tasty, but not overwhelmingly spicy". Ok, we will give it a shot.

What a night. First, the beer:

"Wind, Flower, Snow & Moon Beer".  I think there were flecks of opium in there as well. Guaranteed to put you to sleep in 2 hours!


Then - the arrival of the food. We sat in the center of the restaurant at a round table - so almost all patrons in the restaurant can see when our food arrived:

We ordered 8-9 dishes in all, and only 2 of them arrived on the top of the waiter's head!

Then, the entertainment! Around 7 pm, a show was put on by the staff (who you can see were all wearing the native costumes). This lasted about 10 minutes.....I'm sure there is an ancient story behind it that I am blissfully unaware of.....

 

(having trouble uploading....)

 

As you can tell by Martin's reaction in the video above - yes, it was quite loud.

Finally, we have the audience participation piece of the night! Yes, of course, the restaurant staff had a dance where they did a "Locomotion" type dance around the room....and of course they would pick the American in the yellow shirt!

All in all, a great night. A review of the food is in the next post. We will have to get Freddie and Warren back here at some point to experience it.

 

NFL Week 1 : Malaysian Chicken Satay

Hello and welcome again to an annual tradition - Eric's Themed NFL picks! It was tough to pick a topic this year; it came down to:
"Review of Asian Foods" vs. "Best $25,000 Pyramid Winner's Circle subjects"
 By a flip of a coin, the culinary idea won. Maybe we will look at "Things that are Violent" next year.

So our first trip out of China was a trip to Malaysia in the fall of 2010. Our life was in utter and complete chaos at that point, so a friend of ours directed us to a resort in the city of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia to head for the October vacation that year. And - best news - there was no need to go off the resort; they had 6 different restaurants in the place; we found out on that vacation that the boys loved the Hibachi grill. (sadly, there is no Benihana in Guangzhou).

The most famous Malaysian food, I think, is meat served Satay style - meat skewed on a stick. And when I think of Satay, I think of the peanut sauce.  MMM-mmmm! Hunks of chicken in the shape of a kids' popsicle that I can dip in a vat of peanut butter....

The reality, however, is not like that. The sauce was excellent - it was very much as I expected. The meat? Well, the amount of meat on the stick barely covers the skewer. It is like a pipe cleaner's worth of meat on the wooden skewer - so when you try to eat it off the stick, you have to watch out for slivers on your tongue. The taste was fine, but I expected more than just gristle on a stick.

Grade: B- .

This is how I feel about the Browns in week 1. In my mind, I envision a sharp passing attack coupled with Richardson being explosive in the backfield...the defense being as solid as it was last year....and with a break or two, this game could (and should) be winnable!

In reality tomorrow, I hope I'm not watching gristle.

On to the picks:

Chi 23, Ind 17 . We all will focus on Luck on this game, but the key is Indy's good D line vs. Chicago's weak O.

NYJ 17, Buf 13. Again, we all focus on the Jets O - when we should focus on the Jets' D. How exactly will the Bills score?

NO 31, Was 17. Now that the players are vindicated, I need to stop typing and get in on this game before the line rises any more.

NE 30, Ten 24. Is Jake Locker really the one to exploit the weak Pats' D?

Min 24, Jax 13. I like Min's D Line vs. Gabbert.

Hou 27, Mia 7. Miami has a good defense and will stop the Texans -but how will they score?

Det 24, StL 20. Detroit is a one-dimensional team, they have questions in their secondary and I trust Fisher as a coach.

Atl 27, KC 23. We'll see how good each of these teams are with this game.

SF 27, GB 24. I think the Niners will move the ball against the porous GB pass D, and their own D will do just enough to stop the Pack.

TB 20, Car 19. Layup made a good point here - the Panthers were not very good in the 2nd half of the season once people starting figuring out Cam a bit.

Az 23, Sea 20. Wilson, Wilson, Wilson. The previews of this game sounds like a Dennis the Menace convention.

Den 27, Pit 17. I'm interested to see how good (or bad) Pit's O line is.

Bal 27, Cin 17. Ugh - high emotions in Baltimore?

SD 24, Oak 23. Double Ugh. I have no idea about this one.

Best bets: 15 this week.
 Ind +9.5
Buf/NYJ under 38
NO -8
NE/Ten over 47
Min -3.5
Hou -13
Mia/Hou under 42 1/2
St Louis +8.5
Atl/KC Over 43 1/2
SF +5
TB +2 1/2
Car/TB under 47
Az +2 1/2
Den -2
Bal -7

A review of results:
2011: 143-118-12  (54.8%)
Overall - 6 year history on F&J:   733-670-46 (52.2%)


The Supercontest is back! The picks for this week:

Min -3.5
NE +5.5
St L +7
TB +2.5
Den -1.5

I welcome any of you (Wiz, especially) to post your choices here.

 

Modell

Well, I see the day finally arrived - Art Modell has died.

This is not going to be a post where I write my hopes on what he is doing in the afterlife. The raw emotion of the move has long passed, but there is still some anger at what he did. With the move, he ripped a key part of my 20s away from me. Going to Browns games were a social highlight back then - being part of a community, seeing friends in Cleveland - and being able to do that 2-3 times a year was a big part of my pre-marriage life. That was ripped away. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but still...part of my life that I will never, never get back. It still makes me sad.

Of course, I can't blame Modell for the current state of the Browns - in fact, can't balme him for the last 10 years or so of ineptitude - but a few things I do want to state for the record:

1. I am happy that he will not be able to pass the franchise on to his family. That was a stated goal of his when he announced the move - and he will not, was not, able to do that.

2. I am getting sick of the revisionist history on Modell. "Yes, he moved the Browns...a controversial move" , some of the reports state. "But while he did so, he made sure to leave the colors and the name of the Browns in Cleveland".

That is a complete and utter lie. Maury Povich, I believe, has the results.

Some facts, just for the record:

- When Art was in Baltimore annoucing the move, there was a banner behind him: "Baltimore Browns".
- There was Baltimore Browns merchandise being sold in Baltimore.
That's why:
- I was part of an effort to clog the NFL offices' fax machine on Jan 11, 1996, protesting the move and demanding our colors. It took me about 2 hours to figure out how to do this from my hom computer at the time.
- I was part of an effort to send flowers to every NFL owners' wife - flowers in Brown and Orange - demadning our colors and history to be returned.
- I was part of a team getting signatures for a petition to get the colors and history back.

Yeah, yeah, I know...some of you are playing the world's smallest violin right now. I understand that.
But let's not mis-remember what happened in the mid 90s.

3. When I heard that  the Browns were going to have a moment of silence for Art, I was livid. Who approved this? This had nothing but disaster written all over it. We would look either like wimps who sat there and took it, or "imbeciles" that booed a dead man. There was no good side.

Where was our lame duck president to nullify this? (And no, I don't  mean Obama. Zing! Bad-da-bum). Holmgren was probably in Seattle this week.

But then I heard that we won't have the moment of silence at the stadium, "on request from the Modell family". Ha. I mean, I'm sure David Modell has nothing better to do than to call up Roger and say "oh, yeah, I was mourning my dad... and I thought, "let's not do the memorial in Cleveland? K? thanks.".
If you believe that, then you must believe my Browns prediction this week - Browns 31, Eagles 17.




 

New German Wine available

Went shopping in one of the newer grocery stores in Guangzhou last weekend. This new store, called Ole', is located in the basement of a very new, upscale shopping mall. So technically, we can get our groceries after purchasing a bag from Prada, underwear from Calvin Klein, and a watch from Mont Blanc.

I went to the wine section to get a bottle of white - and lo and behold, I was speechless at what I found. This bottle sold for 240 RMB - about $35 or so.

Of course we purchased one - to save? Maybe I will open it up after the Browns win this weekend. Or save for Martin's 18th birthday....

(The decorations in the store are seen here. I guess they were celebrating the US Labor Day weekend holiday.....)

(Their wine section is extensive, and expensive. A bottle of 1982 Chateau Rothschild is for sale for 115000RMB - about $18000. Is that a good bottle? I was not allowed to take pictures of it....)
 

Sad news from Cincinnati

Receive some sad news from P&G over the weekend. My friend Keith, who I've known as a P&G colleague for 14 years, lost his battle with cancer Saturday night. Keith was diagnosed with throat cancer about a year ago; he underwent chemo for a while - but then he received some horrible news this summer that the cancer had returned and worsened.

Keith was a wonderful person to work with, but (more importantly?) he was a great friend and "rival". We were in the same fantasy football league for 12 years; we met in the playoffs about once every two years in our league.  He went to Stanford and was a huge Cardinal fan; I proudly bragged about the Terps' regional final win in 2001 over the Cardinal loudly in the office.

He also was a huge Bengals fan - we went to 2 or 3 games in Cincinnati when the Browns came into town - none more important than the week 16 game in 2007. I was going to see the Browns clinch a playoff spot! However, that did not work out as Derek Anderson and Kellen Winslow argued with each other constantly on the field during the game; we lost, 19-14, and ended up missing the playoffs the next week when Tony Dungy laid down and played Jim Sorgi on Sunday night vs. the Titans. Keith also introduced me to the weekly NFL pick 'em pool that I have been playing for the last 8 years or so.

Keith is survived by his wife and two children. He will be missed.

What's wrong with this promo?

Time for our annual trip into nostalgia with NFL theme songs of the past! Here is a link to a "The NFL Today" opening from 1977.

Go ahead and watch the clip first, then come back....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUUMMlGPeMA&feature=related

Question: How many fines would have been given out for all those illegal hits we just saw? I love the clothesline of the punt returner. And, of course, the Turkey Jones slam of Terry Bradshaw has a special place in my heart.


Bonus Question: Has anyone every heard of Tuborg's? Where in Baltimore was that brewed?

 

The longest 2 hours.....

I used to think that the longest 2 hours EVER in the history of mankind was.....

1. The two hours before the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced.....
2. From 2-4 pm on Masters Sunday, when the coverage was limited to 3 hours only on Sunday;
3. The two hours between church and the 1 pm kickoff of the NFL games when Layup and I were growing up....


But I know the true answer to that question....

the longest 2 hours of mankind is hosting a birthday party for 4 year olds. You plan it all out - you have 12 types of games to play; it starts at 3, ends at 5; people even arrive late to shorten the party! The games begin at 3:15; after the 10th game of "Duck Duck Goose" and the 13th game of "Simon Says", you look at the clock...

.. and it says 3:39.

What the hell? Who turned the clock backward? I still have to keep these kids occupied for another 80 minutes?

It's been nothing but birthdays for the past 2 weeks - Warren's was the 24th and Martin's was the 30th. I love them, but I'm glad it's over......


 

Browns Openers - what a list

We are 8 days away from the start of the NFL season! I can't wait for football to start, now that the Indians are on another losing streak (is it 10 games this time? 8 games? I lost track) and golf is winding down.

The problem, of course, is that I will have to suffer through another Week 1 Browns game. I reviewed the list of openers since the return - and hoo boy, there are some doozys in here.

We are 1-12 in openers since 1999. 12 of those 13 were at home.


1999- L to Steelers, 43-0, at Cleveland. Ty Detmer QB. Not much more needs to be said.

2000- L to Jaguars, 27-7, at Cleveland. Tim Couch QB. We did end up winning the next 2 - including 1 vs. Pit - and we were 2-1. Was it going to turn around? No....we lost 12 of the next 13.

2001- L to Seahawks, 9-6, at Cleveland. Tim Couch QB. I don't remember much of this game....of course, we got our revenge 10 years later by beating Seattle 6-3 at home!

2002 - L to Chiefs, 40-39, at Cleveland. Kelly Holcomb as QB. Forever known as the Dwayne Rudd game. How, again, did we lose this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_nFvKv9pwc

Nothing more needs to be said.

2003- L to Colts, 9-6, at Cleveland. Kelly Holcomb as QB. Peyton Manning is not injured - and it is sunny. How we hold them to 9 points and still lose......

2004- W over Ravens, 20-3, at Cleveland. Jeff Garcia as QB. It's a miracle!

2005 - L to Bengals, 27-13, at Cleveland. Trent Dilfer as QB. I don't remember much about this one.

2006 - L to Saints, 19-14, at Cleveland. Charlie Frye as QB. The Saints were coming off a 3-13 season. THe first play from scrimmage - Frye finds Braylon Edwards for a 75 yard TD!!!!

Oh wait... "holding, on the offense....."

2007 - L to Steelers, 34-7, in Cleveland. Charlie Frye as QB. What a mess, Frye is shipped out after the game and Derek Anderson (who?) is our QB for the funnest season in 18 years.

2008 - L to Cowboys, 28-10, in Cleveland. Derek Anderson as QB. This games wasn't even this close. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in town for a national FOX game (4 pm start) - horrific.

2009 - L to Vikings, 34-20, in Cleveland. Brady Quinn as QB. You probably have seen the highlights of Peterson running through our secondary maybe 239 times now.

2010 - L to Tampa, 17-14, in Tampa. Jake Delhomme as QB. This game was in our pocket -14-3 - until Jake throws a horrendous interception late in the first half which turns the tide.
Tampa was up, 17-14, with 2 minutes to go and was at our 4 yd line trying to ice it...they run, IT's A FUMBLE...and the ball squirts out to the side of the pile by itself.
A Browns LB FALLS ON THE BALL with no one around him. There was 96 yards of daylight ahead of him...and he just falls on it.

2011 - L to Cincinnati, 27-17, in Cleveland. You may recall, we were up by 4 with 4 minutes left when we didn't break our defensive huddle, and the Bengals snapped the ball while we were in our huddle.......

What wonders will await me week 1 in 8 days?
 

Why we moved

This weekend, there was a "welcome back" beach party. This video sums up exactly why we moved from a 90% Chinese place to a more ex-pat friendly neighborhood.

The two older boys are in here somewhere - although I'm not sure exactly where.

And this video was taken 5 minutes after the MC pulled me up from the crows to sing "Dancing Queen". I am not lying. They asked if I needed to look at the screen for the lyrics. Hell no!

 

Random Pictures

1. Coming back from the US, this was a sign near our apartment. It just feeds into all the jokes....

2. When you don't have a spouse or friends to help carry styrofoam boxes, I guess you have to improvise:

 

3. No, I didn't order Cheddar cheese bread; I said Earthquake cheese bread!

 

 

 

Hello again

Hi everyone - yes, it's been a while since the last post. Life has been very busy in the past month with the move to the new place. Let's try some rapid fire updates:

1. Watched some of the Olympics, as we watched the first week at our old place and the second week at the new place. We made the kids watch the opening ceremonies - the highlight was the Mr. Bean skit with the "Chariots of Fire" scene.

The first week - we watched the slingbox feed from the US. In the evenings, we set it up and watched the NBC Sports Channel coverage (at 8 am from the US) - archery was on most mornings; the boys were fascinated.

The second week, we were able to catch the CCTV feed for the coverage. Of course, it was biased toward the Chinese athletes. There was a diving competition where they showed all 6 rounds - well, I should say, they showed selected divers of each round. In the first round, they showed 2 Chinese, a Russian, and a few others......and then after Round 1, an American was in 2nd......never saw him. He stayed in the top 5 all 6 rounds; no dives were shown.

2. Had to pay one month's rent in cash at the front desk. That was a time-consuming moment. I should have brought in a briefcase with the bills bound.

3. Our pet turtle didn't like the move; one week after our move, there were signs in the clubhouse: "Turtle found; we have it upstairs at the restaurant". Sure enough, our large turtle jumped the bowl and was found wandering the streets.

4. I'm starting to watch the Premier league more and more - Freddie and I are watching games Saturday night and highlights on Sunday. We watches the end of the Swansea-West Ham game yesterday and the start of Tottenham. He can't wait to see a Man U goal in real time.

5. There's a group at work planning to enter into the Macau marathon.... there is a half marathon option......how in the hell can I run 12 miles?

Picutures coming soon as I download them off my phone....
 

Back "home"

Well, here we are - back "home" in China after a 5 week visit to the US. It was great to see as many people as I could...thanks to all for your hospitality and time if we were able to see you during our visit. 

The visit this year was both too short and too long. It's tough to be away from your routine and your "home" for 5 weeks. By the end of the 3rd week, I think most of us were ready to head back. It's a little scary to realize that homesickness for the US is less and less each year.

Some random notes from the trip:

- As usual, I overdid it with the food. I think I gained 8-10 pounds on the trip. It puts a whole new perspective on the obesity situation in the US. If you don't cook - which we didn't - you eat out a lot; and if you are poor, then you eat out a lot at fast food joints. Well, with only 3 weeks of mostly fast food in me, I gained the 8-10 pounds. Imagine living a year or two like that.......(I know, I know, you will all tell me to go watch "Super Size Me").....

- But damn, that whole large LaRosa's pizza that I ate while watching the US Open was good.....

- Why did I enthusiastically agree to play from the black tees at Belterra for my first round back?

- Went to 3 Reds games with the boys; got an autograph from Ubaldo Jimenez - and the Reds won all 3 (one, unfortunately, was against the Tribe). In fact, we were 3-for-3 in the LaRosa's promotion; if the Reds have 11 or more strikeouts in a game, everyone gets a small pizza and ice cream cone! All three games were a winner.

- Is there anything more innocently joyous than boys ages 8-12 at a baseball game?

- Warren won the Crooked Tree club championship for 8-9 year olds in a scorecard playoff! he continues the tradition of Zahns winning playoffs......

- When I am the second fastest golfer in a tournament round, that's not good news. I think Craig clocked our group for the 2nd round of the Vineyard classic as being 1:02 behind his group.....

- Ants and ground floor apartments......ah yes, two things that go together.

- Columbus-made Buckeye vodka....wow....Don, how can I get that in China?

- Actually made it to church one Sunday morning. Recognized maybe 10% of the people there.

- What a wonderful week in Kansas City with Derek, Carol and everyone. It was God-awful hot, but we made up for it by visiting the casino twice in the trip. Crapless craps is addictive!
I'll give you two guesses on what my first roll was at the crapless craps table.....of course, a 12.
The next time I rolled, my point was 2.....and Derek put 5x odds on me.....and I hit it. At 6-1 odds, he celebrated by carrying me across the casino.

- Bought a new driver (after going to the swing monitor). I am on my own with it now after leaving all my old "new" drivers at Don's place before we left.

- The pars I made on 7, 8 and 9 at Apple Valley (to win plenty of wagers against Mer) will go down in history. To recap:
7: 240 yard par 3; blow a 3 wood 45 yards left of the green. Par.
8: 420 yard par 4: blow a drive way right; I'm not even on the green in 3. Par.
9: 370 yard par 4: blow a drive into the trees left, chip out; Par.
Steve was with us and he was rolling after each successive miracle.

- The trip ended badly with Freddie having to go to urgent care 2 days before the trip home because he cut open his leg in a bed-jumping incident. He has 11 stitches in his leg now, which will be taken out by the fine doctors here in China.

- One of my last tasks was to run around Northern Kentucky trying to find water balloon pumps similar to the one seen at the Hershey's at their party......I found them in a clearance rask at the Florence Walgreens; They are now in a plastic bin awaiting to be shipped to Guangzhou by another P&G family that is coming this fall.......

- And on my last stop at Barnes and Noble, I saw that the 2012 NFL Record/Fact book was released. That's good bathroom reading for the next 2 months.

Jet lag and Prime Time Golf

Let's just say the two don't match.

I was all excited for the British Open, since it would be the 2nd major in a row that I could watch golf in prime time. The leaders would tee off around 9:30pm Sunday night, and I can watch as much as I want...if it's boring, I would go to bed; if it is exciting, the adrenalin would keep me up.....

But I forgot to take into account the jet lag factor.

We landed back here in China Wed night (more on that later); and the first day (Thursday) was not so bad. Friday was rough; Saturday was a little better. However, Janice nor I are sleeping through the night yet, and the whole house is all tired out around 8 am. (I was awoken by Martin at 6 am Friday as he said "Daddy -the sun is shining! It's time to be awake!" after being up from 1-4 am).

Anyway, so I started the slingbox at 8 pm (8 am Eastern) and watched the early coverage. The boys were all ready for bed, and Martin fell asleep watching Bugs Bunny at 8:10. Perfect! The boys were in bed at 8:30, and Janice was done for the night. But then exhaustion started to creep in for me......

So I decided to bring the pillows out to the couch and set up shop; I turned out all the lights and started watching. I think, around 8:45, I remember thinking "well, now would a perfect time for a quick nap....."

......

I did awake around 10:30 or so, with the leaders on the 4th hole. I checked my phone, Scott still leading, tiger at -6.....and then the TV showed Tiger at -3. What?

But I was still too drowsy....I'll just shut my eyes and listen.....

........

........

Next thing I know, it's 2:30 am. Oh crap, I slept through it all. I felt refreshed, I checked my phone - WHAT THE HELL????

So then I spent the next hour watching highlights on the web. An epic collapse and I missed it.

By the way - on one more golf note - did you see the list of characters that entered into the PGA Tour event this week? This is the event that is opposite the British and usually has the worst field of the year.

The players scattered at the bottom of the board is like a who's-who of one-tournament winners from the 80s and 90s. Here were some of the actual entrants this week:

Mark Carnevale
Morris Hatalsky
Jim McGovern
Fulton Allem
Jim Gallagher Jr.
Blaine McAllister
John Inman
Robin Freeman
Ted Tryba

Wow. Those are some names from the vault. I wonder what Jim Benepe and Mike Nicolette are doing these days?

How could this happen? I am shocked

News from our part of the world:

Guangdong on alert after Hong Kong bird flu case

The key part, from another article:

The boy, who lives with his parents and maternal grandmother in the Haizhu district of Guangzhou, had visited a wet market on Nanyuan Street in mid May where his mother had bought a live duck.

Ah yes.We live in the Haizhu district, and I think that market is about a mile and a half down the street.

One of the consulate guys in our building was shocked - shocked! - that it can happen here. "With the public urination, heat, trash piliing up in the trash cans, and everyone spitting - it's hard to believe this can happen!!"

/sarcasm off

Ready for a break

In less than two weeks, we will be heading back to the US for the summer. We'll all be there for about 5 weeks, getting our fill of fast food, seeing friends and family (and many gambling tables?), refilling our medicine cabinet and playing golf for less than $120 a round.

It's definitely time for a break to get back to the US culture for a bit. The way of life here is wearing on me. I'm starting to get more depressed and having less fun. There are many little things that I am getting sick and tired of here........

I'm getting sick and tired of:
- our apartment (pt.1). It is 90% Chinese, and there are no Western boys above the age of 5. So Freddie and Warren don't have any friends here in the complex. On the random days off, they stay at home, play video games, read for a bit and fight with each other. We have to organize sessions to get together with their friends. It's not how I envision the boys growing up.
- our apartment, pt. 2. I hate getting woken up at 4 am by some college student screaming on the riverwalk outside.
- the cockroach season that never ends
- the swimming pool here with the random rules. The pool closes from 11:30 to 3:30 every day - because it is "too hot at the pool". Also, they tell us we can't swim when it just finished raining, when the week before, they would have let us swim in lightning and thunder.
- random answers, in general. Our piano teacher called us to say she will be late for the lesson (on Sat afternoon, when we have plans Sat night) because "it's raining too hard". Huh?
- elevator etiquette, or lack thereof. If you are in the elevator trying to get out at your floor, look out first -since the crowd is coming in. I'm starting to barrel people over now getting out - maybe that will teach them to wait before entering the elevator
- the car situation. We are having issues with our driver - and that just makes it a nuisance for everyone.
- the constant planning every day for transportation. I can't just leave work, drive home, pick up Martin and go to the doctor. Doesn't work like that.
- our apartment, pt 3. The regular doorman ALWAYS tries to strike up a conversation with me ..... when he knows damn well I can't understand anything he says. And I think he is hitting on Janice.....
- not being able to watch sporting events live with the kids. I'm getting depressed at this. We can't watch the Masters together, or a baseball game, or root against LeBron together...... We will be going to at least 3 Reds games over the summer to make up for it.
- the youth baseball league. I am the coach of both teams - and it's painful. I can't communicate with 20% of the kids. 20% of the other kids will show up 30 minutes late (for a 1 hour game). I have to explain to parents why their kids can't just step on third when a ground ball is hit when runners are on 1st and 2nd. Kids backing away from pop flies - at AGE 11. Kids wandering off the base after reaching the base safely - then get tagged out. I expect this at T-ball, not in 8-9 or 10-12.
- the caddies at the golf course. The next caddie to speak - as I am about to bring the putter back- and say "uphill" will get my Odyssey shoved down his/her throat. (I do kind of appreciate the bluntness, however. I hit a bad shot; I look hopefully at the caddie. "Is it OK?" The response: "No. OB." )
- Martin's skin, which looks like he has "leg measles" because of all the mosquito bites. I expect this to clear up after being in the US for 3 days.
- our apartment, pt 4. I hate the closeness of apartment living. I hate it. The TV can be heard everywhere. After being in a house since 1996 (wow), living 2 years in an apartment is hell.  And I really don't like the fact that the boys don't have their own room.

There's a lot of good things about living over here. Work is good and busy. As many of you can guess, I'd rather be here than in Cincinnati right now from a career environment standpoint.

But the newness has worn off. The first 4-6 months were horrible with the transition (mushrooms, anyone?). The next 9-12 months were an adventure - and for the most part, was fun. Now - it's a drag, a chore.

I know many of you are thinking "suck it up - stop trying to live the American life in China and live like a true Chinese person". Well, I did my time, and it was fun/entertaining for a while. But I'm done with it.

When we come back here after the summer, we will be moving within the city to an expat compound where we will have a house. A four bedroom house. We will be a little farther from work, yes. But there will be western kids for the boys to run around with, some privacy, some space, and people who speak English. Yes, a good bit of suburbia in China. And you know what? I'm not guilty about it at all. I - we - deserve it.

Golfing is illegal in parks

Warren's third grade class is doing a study on "Work and Leisure" - how people spend their time working and how they spend it relaxing. I was going to go into the class and show them how I relax now - by playing on my iPhone for 45 minutes straight - but I decided against it.

I opted instead to take the kids golfing. There is a park across the street from the school - and there was an area about 30 yards wide by 80-90 yards long, unblocked by trees, that would be an ideal mini driving range.

At 8:20 in the morning, the teacher, 20 3rd graders, and I headed over to the park with some kids clubs and 30-odd real golf balls.

I split them up in groups of 5; the first five would come up, hit 5 balls, then run out and collect them for the next group of 5, and so on. A perfect way to spend 50 minutes or so!

(I decided to kick things off with a Bob Barker-like inspiration swing. See, kids, here is how it's done. I wanted to impress them with my 60 degree wedge and hitting a high, full wedge that landed softly on the ground 75 yards away. I would get so many ooohs and aaaahs.......

....alas, it rained the night before, and I was wearing sandals, not my golf shoes. On the downswing, my right foot slipped, and I made contact with the middle of the golf ball - a pure skull. The ball went 110 yards on a low line......the kids, of course, were still impressed.)

The first group of kids finished hitting their balls when a 50 year old Chinese man came up to me and started talking to me very seriously in Mandarin. I understood nothing, so I did the next best thing. I called the teacher.

She came over - and her Mandarin was no better. "I don't know what he is saying ,either". Deep down, I kind of knew, but I could play the dumb foreigner for a while.

Then a student in the class started to translate. "He said that they will be working on the grass later today - and so he needs you to be off the grass for that work".

Um, ok. We told him "10 minutes" - and after about 45 more seconds of discussion, he was fine with hat.

The second group of kids started hitting - and we barely got into that session when another man, a bit older, came running over. He was now yelling - again, in Mandarin.

"Gaylene! Come back over here!" The teacher and the 9 year old translator joined us.

"He wants us to leave now. You can not do this at the park. You are hurting the grass. " This man seemed to be the supervisor of the first guy that approached us. What's this guy's title, the "Superintendent of the Park"? If so, then what is the first guy's job?

5 more minutes? I asked.

The man yelled even more. "No, we have to leave now, He says you are killing the grass".

Well, not wanting to cause any more of a scene, we packed up and left. They stared at us until we crossed the street heading back to the school.

"The Whitest person in Guangzhou"

We were invited to a theme party this weekend - a "rock star" birthday party where we were encourraged to dress up as rock stars. As all of you probably know, I have zero hard-rocker gear, and I can't really pass as a hippie.....

....so, I found some odds and ends around here and the local markets - Martin's NY Knicks hat, some awful sunglasses and a 35 RMB chain - and tried to pull off the Vanilla Ice look.

As my friend Scott said, "only the whitest person in Guangzhou could pull that off - and it looks like you did!" I'll take that as a compliment. (although maybe white rappers don't actually smile....).   It's too bad you can't see the high tops I was wearing (or Janice's leggings).....

Americans = Jon Arbuckle?

The offices at work are all cubiucles - no one has a "personal" office. All of P&G has gone to cubicles for some time now. However, there is a lack of "huddle rooms" in the office at Guangzhou. Many people hog the huddle rooms for any conference calls they are on - and there is a serious shortage of the huddle rooms availability throughout the week.

The site facility owners have determined that a key root cause for the shortage is that many people are using it by themselves for their call; they will tie up a room for just one person. They want to discourage this behavior - so politce notices have been appearing in each room.

Here is the notice. I always get a kick out of the illustration of the guys - it looks like they found a copy of "Garfield" and think that all Americans look like Garfield's owner. The only way you can tell the characters apart is by the color of their shirt.

I love the first panel - what exactly is the guy in green looking at?

T-shirts from this week

Actual T-shirts on the natives that I saw this week:

------------------------------
"Enjoy Summer in Miami"
-----------------------
(for Steve):
"Don't be mad at me
When I'm mad at you"
------------------------------
"Awesome
Want
Bizarre
Must!"
---------------------------------
(seen on a 50 year old woman):
"No time to rest
Dance all night!"

Scaring the help

I stayed home in the morning on Tuesday ( Mon night US time) to watch the Caps-Rangers game 5. I missed Game 3 (the 3 OT game) but saw most of game 4. I decided to treat myself and play hooky from work for 3 hours to watch the pivotal game 5 starting at 7:30 in the morning.

Our nanny (called "ayi" in China) comes around 7:30 - so she arrived just before tipoff. She, of course, has no experience with me watching sports, since all the NFL games are on in the very early morning.

The Rangers first goal in the first period was cause from some (but not too many) loud obscenities. She was in the other room and seemed to hide in there for a while.

Then the Caps scored to tie it - and then take the lead. Yes, there was dancing and whooping it up. At that point, I think she figured out she needed to stay away from me.

I can only imagine what she thought when the Rangers scored the tying goal with 06.6 left.

I left for work after that - I didn't need to see the overtime.

I will be golfing on Sunday morning, and will try to catch the replay of game 7 later that afternoon. No live updates please!

It's Friday Math time!

It's time for some math exercises! For our class today, we will use Chinese real estate prices. This is to give you an idea of the real estate costs here in Guangzhou.

Here is a picture of the outside of a real estate agency. It looks like a big punch-a-bunch board from "Price Is Right". Each paper is one property. The units are in square meters and in RMB. The symbol next to the red number is "wan", and represents 10,000.

So, let's take a look at the first column,second row. It says
183 m2
580 wan

So that's 183 m2, and there are about 10 sq ft in a sq meter. 1830 sq foot.
580 wan = 580*10000 RMB = 5.8 million RMB, and at 6.3 RMB per $1, that's about $920,000.

You can see how much 100 sq meter apartments go for here.

But how much to rent? Well, here are some prices for monthly rentals.

The prices in the left and center section here are the rental prices.
So - in the center section, bottom left, you see:

35 m2
2300

That's a rental for a 350 sq ft apartment for about $375/month.

The language barrier

One unexpected barrier - or, I guess, an inconveinence - is the language barrier at work. It's not my lack of speaking Mandarin that's the problem.....well, yes, it is a problem, but that's not unexpected. It's the way the Chinese employees speak English - and how they try to speak English at work - that is an issue. And it's very subtle.

They say things that mean nothing to them but mean a whole lot to native speakers. For instance, I was trying to stress a point in a meeting that the team needs to stay on top of the machine performance shiftly. They need to make sure they analyze the reports and come up with a  daily action plan.

You need to know the shiftly efficiency. I asked in an examinatory tone: "What was it last night?"

They paused...." I think it was 82%"

I jumped on that. "You think? No....you need to know. You need to know this and take action".

"I know it!" they protested. "I think it is 82%!"

"Do you know it, or do you think it is?". That distinction was lost on them. Clearly, they thought it was the same, where the statement "think" expresses doubt, to me.

In another meeting, we were talking about tests that need to be run on the new line. I saw that the schedule said the test would be run later this afternoon.

It was 12:30, right after lunch, where we started our meeting but the technincians were still on break. I brought up the test we were planning to run.

" I see this test is in the schedule. Are we planning to run it today?"

"Yes!" was the answer.

Great.....when will we run it?

"We will run it now!" was the response.

Um, now?

"Yes, we run it now".

But the line is not running now........

"Yes, I know, we will run it today"

But when today?

"We are running it now."

BUT IT IS NOT RUNNING NOW! THE LINE IS DOWN!

The response? "What do you want us to do? The technicians are on break! They have to have lunch! That's why the line is down!"


There is no concept of "now" to them. It is perfectly acceptable for them to say, on a fall Sunday at 11 am Eastern, that the Browns are playing "now". Now, in general, means today. There is no real word for "at this instant".

It's little things like this that drive me crazy, bit by bit. Thank God we are coming back to the US in about 5 weeks......

Just my luck

Two Fridays ago, Freddie had an event at school in the late morning, so I decided to stay home until 10 and then head to his school. Lucky for me, that was a Thursday night back in the US - and it was Game 3 (I think) of the Caps-Bruins! After putting the kids on the bus at 7:30 am (7:30 pm), I got back to the apartment for faceoff....

30 minutes later, there was rumbling outside as a storm was approaching. A big storm. Black clouds surrounding 50% of the sky.

These storms that we are having this spring can be pretty intimidating. Here is a photo from our apartment at 8 in the morning.

Unfortunately, this storm knocked out our satellite reception for 1 1/2 hours, and I missed most of the first and second period. So my plan to watch the game was foiled......

Random Pictures

Some random pictures to make your day.....

1. A sign on the golf course on the edge of the rough. Careful! You don't want the McArctic Blast to get you!

2. There's water you drink at home....but when you need to get down to business, you need business water. (Love the logo.......it's like having a PBR at work!)

3. This is a picture from an airport store in the Shanghai Airport. The Chinese love their cigarettes....I heard that the state-run cigarette industry has bigger sales that Wal-Mart does worldwide. Anyway, click to get a closer look at the name of this airport store........I wish the US Airports just gave up the charade and are as honest as the Chinese Airports.....