Quick post....BIG NEWS!

David, who is becoming the clutch dude here in Shanghai, introduced me to some guys who pedal BMX bikes on Taobao (big online retailer). Apparently they are only an online retailer....we only got to go in because David knew someone.

Long story short, they can have the factory build up a sidehack for a good price! It'll be done in 3 weeks!

This is good news because prior to this, I was going to have to buy a bike here and then have a company in England fab and ship a sidehack. It was going to be a fortune!

It'll be flat black with white mag rims!

How many exclamation points can I use here!?!?

These pics are the guys who hooked up the sidehack frame....Sun is the guy in the cool hoodie, and is the man when it comes to anything BMX around here...they were super nice and said that it would likely be the only sidehack in Shanghai.

Sarah is gonna be so stoked!

I'll post pics of the bike as soon as I get it with a full write up on how it's going to work and maybe a video of me riding it down some steps.

I plan on bringing it home for sure- think LOTW mushroom hunting, camping, and city cruising....

Look out 1979!

PS-
October 19th is one week from today people! Tune in or be tuned up....or get tuned up....if you're not laughing, you're not paying attention.

Cleaning Fairy

We have a cleaning fairy at our house.  I have yet to meet her, haven't ever even seen her, and I don't know how she does it.

You leave the house like this:













And you come home to this:













House is clean, laundry done, random stuff is put away....and difficult to find later.

China is cool.

Thank you cleaning fairy.  Thank you.

Copy Cat

Ok, I walked to Starbucks this morning, here they call it Xingbaku, and it's about 3 blocks from our gate.

In that 3 blocks, I saw three things that were obvious copies of US stuff, two of which are MY ideas!

Pic #1- I've been talking about a bike like this for 2 weeks....this guy shows up this morning all proud like he's had that thing for years.

Pic #2- This sign is just up the street, Xintiandi (our neighborhood) Style?? Sounds an awful lot like the name of a famous US blog written by, uh- ME!?

Pic #3- This one was the worst, it's a sign on a furniture shop, an obvious take from Chris Jones' business "Christopher Original", I mean come on.....

Home Sweet Home

I made it home!  Never thought I'd ever be calling this place home....but when I got here to Shanghai, saw Driver David, and got out of the airport I felt like I was home.

I got bumped up to first class on the flight home....no idea why.  The only other white person on the plane did too.  They sat us together.

Her name was Valentina, Italian, and it turns out she has a law firm here is Shanghai that helps people deal with visa issues from time to time.  I made quick friends.

She followed me through immigration, as a nice gesture, and so we gave her a ride home.  She actually lives right up the street....and we agreed to get together sometime- she and her husband, and Sarah and I.

Sarah has a play date with Kate next week too.  Kate is the girl who we met in Boracay.  She's super nice, from Carolina I think.

I'm finding that it's super easy to meet other expats here....and they all give friendly advise on where to eat, hang out, etc.  However, I've heard the same stuff from a couple different people- making me think the community is sort of small....and the places for expats to hang may be limited.

Valentina was emphasizing the awesomeness of Sherpas.....as have many others.  I may have mentioned it before- but Sherpa is a food delivery company.  They have tons of employees all over Shanghai in cars, bikes, scooters, and on foot.  You call them and place a food/beer/wine order from any restaurant and they will deliver it in 2 minutes!  How much does this delivery system cost you ask?  Try $2.  That's right- 2 bucks and any food will be at your door in 20 minutes!

I was thinking about trying it tonight so I could write a review on the actual service- but nobody really cares about the review....so here is more news:

-Tomorrow I'm playing tennis with some euro guy who uses military time to schedule a match??
-I will now be resuming my hunt for a BMX with a sidecar for Sarah and I.
-Cankles are in.
-Our stuff is supposed to arrive sometime this week or next!
-Sarah is thinking about dying her hair all one color!  I'm worried about her greys.
-David and I booked a fishing trip to 1000 Island Lake for the last week of October.
-Kris + Cam = Love
-I'm winning my fantasy football league.  Even won a game while in Filipino jail!

Good News!

I got my passport back with a new, valid visa! On a flight to Shanghai at noon today!

We also got word that our stuff arrived via boat- we'll have it soon!

Most importantly- HAPPY BIRTHDAY GINO!!!!!

Real or Fake? You Decide....

I was able to pick up two items, pictures below- take a look and see what you think....real or fake?

The first picture is of a pair of shoes, $30 in a store in the PH airport.

The second, sunglasses, were bought by a local on the beach of Boracay for just under $4.00.

I can't tell....

Chain Mail

Viewership is down.

The blog was about to get cut from prime time.

Get locked up and the number of views soared!

Using this logic, I'm going to go out here in HK and cause some real trouble! Stay tuned....

Just kiddin. However, I have been wondering how I was going to get our views up here so that my ad dollars will increase. I had just decided to copy and paste a chain mail letter to the blog....something about pass it on or kittens will die....and then you guys came through! Thanks!

I'm watching the numbers though and if they decline rapidly....well let's wait and see.

The report out of Hong Kong is hot and humid but the hotel bar has good beer! I'm talking Craig Ostrem good!

I went to the mall that is connected to the hotel this afternoon. Walked around for 2 hours before I could find a door that goes outside. It's just a giant network of hallways and stores and tunnels here. Even the door to "outside" was an elevated walkway that goes straight to another huge building....but it was good to breathe real air!

I think it's time to visit the hotel pool- just too hot! It is on the 30th floor balcony, so it should be fun to throw things off the ledge!

I took some pics:

#1- Found a Circle K! I was just about out of gum! This one was exactly like the one on Oregon Ave in Klamath. The one my dad worked in temporarily for some reason?

#2- Picture from the walkway over the road. ALL the public busses here are double decker....and they drive on the wrong side of the road in HK, but not is shanghai!? And how did those people get outside!?

#3- The "western" grocery store here in the mall sells fish head. Just how us westerners like it!

#4- Some funky Hong Kong currency. That is HK$154 which is about US$20 which is about how much you need to buy a pack of gum here it's so expensive.