End of the road

We told Po, the ayi the bad news today. It sucked. Here is the translation of what I said to her:

How do I say goodbye to what we had?

The good times that made us laugh outweigh the bad.

I thought we'd get to see forever, but forever has gone away.

It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

She was ok with it- like I said before- she has a bunch of families, so we're just a drop in the bucket. I'll miss her though- she and David were the only people I knew around here for a while.

The awkwardness of her being in the house when she and I can't talk will be gone I think with Little Flower since she can speak some English.

And I'll put it to rest right now- I know the name Little Flower sounds Modoc but it's not. It's Paiute. Free Leonard Peltier.

Oh- I almost forgot! My bike came in the mail! Well, the frame did. So I took it down to Speedcat bike shop- which is a dirty little shop not too far from here. They have a giant iguana, a small cat, and a really dirty aquarium with maybe 5 turtles in it. One of the turtles is huge- it's shell maybe the size of a basketball hoop.

Anyway, David dropped me off- I helped them put it all together- and I rode it home. All that is left is to take off the donkey stickers and I'm 100%.

For $200 you can get an aluminum frame, carbon fiber deep v rims, and all the other crap. That's dirty cheap.

Peace.

Sleepless In Shanghai

It's a play on words. Like sleepless is Seattle, except I replaced Seattle with Shanghai. Get it. Clever huh.

Anyway, I woke up at 4am. Still can't get on the Asia timeframe here.....and this asleep by 7 or 8pm and up at the crack is getting old.

Not all bad news though- we've had good weather this week, will this weekend, and next week. About 65-68 and sunny with only slight smog. Not too shabby. Last night I even saw a few stars....maybe the clearest I've seen it here yet.

I'll include a pic of the sunrise I took from our balcony. It looks pretty nice! Check out the tall building in the background- when complete it'll be the 2nd or 3rd tallest in the world I believe.

All the trees here have gone from small buds to full leaves in the past week or so....and while its nice now, everyone speaks of what this transition in weather brings- the humid heat of summer. It is universally agreed that it is some of the worst weather you can find. But for now, we'll focus on the good.

Sarah is going to Taiwan for work- so I'm gonna go over and meet her. Don't know why, or what's there, but figure ill never go again once we move back- so better do it now. I'm gonna roll those Taiwanese fools.

Turns out mainland Chinese people don't really dig on Taiwanese people....they all seem to rival over here. We had to take a cultural training class and they explained why....had I been paying attention I would relay that but of knowledge to you, but god- they stuck us in some room all day, and the lunch sucked. It was the only day here I "had" to do something....and I don't like people making me do things. Then the chick who was teaching it had too much perfume.

Sent from my iPhone

Devil in the Details

Its the little things in life.  Lets give it a try....

Sarah kicked my leg in her sleep and woke me up.  I looked at the time on my phone and it was 2:39am.

I checked my email since I was up anyway, one from Leland Outfitters and one from Chjo9- something sassy about my other blog.

I smashed my toe and my toe nail is black.  It's the third time in two years.

The song Back In The Highlife has been stuck in my head all day.

On my way to meet Sarah for lunch I saw a girl we saw back in July when we were looking for an apartment.  She was looking at an apartment the same time we were.

I can't remember if the "in" and the "the" should be capitalized in the title of this blog.  I can't ever remember that.

I have to order one of the big water bottles from the apartment management office, and I hope I don't forget to.

My favorite neighborhoods are flat with wide streets.  I don't like narrow streets.

I used to be good at organizing emails in my inbox.  Now I'm not, so there are 5000 emails piled up in there.

I wanted to post this reply to Dade's reply to my blog from the other day, but didn't:

"Dade, yes we all know the story- You didn't think you needed him when you got out on your own.  Dead set on having your way you were convinced that you were right and Steve was wrong.  But then you started thinking to yourself well, maybe what he said was true.  How could you get so turned around when you needed Steve as much as he needed you?"

I tried, but can't find a basketball hoop with suction cups that I could put up on our apartment glass door.

When I was in Oregon last, my back hurt every morning from that donkey bed at Kris'.

I'm slightly worried about contracting bird flu, even though statistically it's super unlikely.

The inside of my watch band is a little foul.

When I woke up this morning I did a mental walk-thru of how this blog would be and this was not it.

And then, then when I was 5, I pushed my sister down the stairs and blamed it on the dog.

I planned transportation, hotel, and guided vacation to Beijing without doing a single thing myself somehow.

Last time I went to the dentist I had them skip the x-rays because I don't like those things they jam in your mouth.

The thing that was holding up my shoe thing in the bedroom broke.  I have to find a new one now.

Slight wind today, 7 MPH from the north east.

Dinner tonight will be made by me and I found tuna and mayonnaise at the grocery store, I consider that a big win.

I should buy a few Huey Lewis and the News songs from itunes for old times sake.

Chae just texted me. 

The other day I remembered to our neighbors growing up were named Muffin and Chunks.  No joke.

Sometimes our coffee maker doesn't work great.  Sometimes it does.

Little Flower

Well, I wish it didn't come down to this....but we had to make a change. Things weren't happening like they should, and we couldn't fix them if we couldn't communicate them....

So, yes- you guessed it. We are letting our ayi go. She was faithful, and mildly decent. But if you can't communicate with her- things become very difficult....things start falling through the cracks. Feelings get hurt.

So today I met with Leo. Leo is our sort if Chinese agent. He helps find a driver, house, car, ayi.....and anything else "living" related.

Leo came well prepared with a few ayis to interview. He has skin in the game you see- his company can provide an ayi and our money goes to his company (well not HIS company, his employer). That said, you want to know what he does? He shows up with an ayi that can speak, read, and write English.

Yeah- that's right- Xiao Lan....she told me her name means "little flower". Game changer.

This is a total 180 from Po, who couldn't read Chinese....and things just go up from there.

First, she said she can go to the store for us any time- "just SMS me". Second, she cooks western foods....or so she claims. Third, if we need anything translated, she will be lurching around the house anyway. Four, she is available 3 days a week (Po was only around 2). Five, I can be even more lazy now. Six, well I'm just gonna stop, I could go on forever.

So, life in SH just got a little better....which is to say- its only a bird-flu, pigs-in-water, north-Korea, smog step away from being half as cool as Oregon.

Hey but so here is the deal- don't tell anyone! We haven't told Po yet, and I think she should hear it from us. She'll be ok as she works for like 10 families....and, to be dead honest, I'm not so sure she really liked Sarah all that much.

My new deal is gonna be that I'm going to end all my blogs with a Jeff Winger style inspirational line. Let's give it a try....

So it's a new day, and what we have to remember is that the only thing we need to remember is that maybe being nice to one another is what will get us through the day. We spend so much time wanting to be someone else that we forget who we are to each other and in doing so we lose ourselves.

Back in the high life....

Internet is fixed!

Home phone is fixed!

Here is a song my friend Steve wrote that I think is perfect for this occasion:

It used to seem to me
That my life ran on too fast
And I had to take it slowly
Just to make the good parts last
But when you're born to run
It's so hard to just slow down
So don't be surprised to see me
Back in that bright part of town

I'll be back in the high life again
All the doors I closed one time will open up again
I'll be back in the high life again
All the eyes that watched me once will smile and take me in

And I'll drink and dance with one hand free
Let the world back into me
And on I'll be a sight to see
Back in the high life again

You used to be the best
To make life be life to me
And I hope that you're still out there
And you're like you used to be
We'll have ourselves a time
And we'll dance 'til the morning sun
And we'll let the good times come in
And we won't stop 'til we're done

We'll be back in the high life again
All the doors I closed one time will open up again
We'll be back in the high life again
All the eyes that watched us once will smile and take us in
And we'll drink and dance with one hand free
And have the world so easily
And oh we'll be a sight to see
Back in the high life again

We'll be back in the high life again
All the doors I closed one time will open up again
We'll be back in the high life again
All the eyes that watched us once will smile and take us in
And we'll drink and dance with one hand free
And have the world so easily
And oh we'll be a sight to see
Back in the high life again

Life in SH-IT

That is short for Shanghai Information Technology....

Or lack there of....

The deal is this- I'm now having to sit and write this blog in the most uncomfortable position possible because the computer has to be plugged into the wall.

Why?

Because our wifi is still broken.

Why?

Because the person who came to fix it last night was the owner's property management agent, not someone who knows anything about IT. 

As a result, 2 hours of my time was wasted on this idiot poking around with the wires going to and fro just to say "I don't know what the problem is, we will have to have a technician come out".

So, here is the cut and copy of the email I sent to our agent, his boss, the apartment owner, and his property management company:

Hi All,

As you are all well aware- the wifi at our apartment has not worked for 4 days, and the Internet did not work for 2 days.

The process to fix these issues is very different here in China than what  am used to in the US.  Because of this I have one question:

Why does it seem that my time has no value to any of you?

I hate to ask the question, but it seems necessary since I have now wasted many hours on this issue with no resolution in sight.  Specifically, I had to be at home for 2 hours yesterday while the management agent was sent to fix our issue....though he had no IT knowledge.....and could not even begin to fix our issue.  2 hours yesterday, and now I'm waiting around today for a second person.  I can only hope they have some minimal amount of knowledge or training.

Also, I would like to know who the second individual was that came with the management agent.  That person simply stood around in my apartment the entire time and contributed absolutely nothing.  I'm only concerned with this because I don't like to have people I'm not familiar with in my home for no apparent reason....and it would seem extremely unprofessional to me if it was just the agents friend or family member.

I appreciate any response,

Calee

Now, I hope that didn't end up being too rude- I do have to work with our agent quite often.....but I mean come on.  Imagine I rented a house to you and agreed to take care of the Internet in the house -you call me when it isn't working and I say "ok, I'll send my niece Mia over to take a look at it"...."she seems to know a little bit about computers"......"wait for her to show up sometime after school between 3:30pm and 8pm".

Seriously.

Crash, Bang, Donkey

That was the title of a book Gino had in his bedroom.  When I told him I'd read him a book before bed, I had no idea it would be such a sweet deal.

The blog is back- and hotter than ever!  Bird flu, dead pigs in the river, custom made Indiana Jones whip....it's all here!  Now, where to start.....

First, I'm back on the bike kick.  After a failed attempt at a sidehack, a bought and sold mountain bike in Oregon, a bike with orange rims, and some other rad ideas, I've landed on a 2013 VISP fixed gear.  Due to arrive fresh from taobao.com in 2 days it'll be sure to knock your socks off!  6061 aluminum frame and fork with a cro-mo steer tube- it comes in at just under $100- made in China.  Gotta love cheap labor- cause this would have been an easy $500 frame stateside.  Crash, bang, donkey.

Phase two will be the build process......does any of this sound familiar?  I feel like this is the twelfth (when was the last time you saw that word spelled out) bike project I've had going here that never even left the ground.  Well this one is no different!  Freaking frame was supposed to be here Sunday.....its Monday and the new word is two days out.  Crash, bang, donkey.

Dade is coming in a few weeks.  Crash, bang, donkey to say the least.

Sarah will be going home for work in a few weeks.  She'll have the usual suitcase full of crap I've been commissioned to buy and send home.....so for those of you with orders contact Sarah at sarah@caleeschinabusiness.com.  If no jail time is involved, I expect all deliveries to be on time.  Crash, bang, donkey.

Currently 68 and sunny in Shanghai- and I'm stuck in the house waiting for some crash, bang, donkey to come fix our wifi.  Apparently if you're wireless router is down in China the process is as follows:

1.  Wait for 2 days for no reason.
2.  Stinky guy shows up to tell you it is broken.
3.  I tell our agent we have a problem, he tells owners agent, owners agent tells guy who has already been here that we have a problem, guy who has been here tells owners agent it is broke, owners agent tells owner, owner tells his agent to come out here and see, owners agent contacts our agent to update, our agent tells us owners agent is coming out, I tell our agent he, owner, owner's agent, and fix it guy they are all lame.

I SWEAR, that has been the process so far.  Lord only knows where it goes from here once the owner's agent comes today.  Crash, bang, donkey.

Back to the whip.  So I've been contemplating an Indiana Jones whip for some time now....for a number of reasons.....what if you were in the jungle?  I live on the 7th floor, what if there was a fire?  In the boat and, heaven forbid, someone fell out!?  A whole bunch of reasons to say the least.  So, I'm currently looking for someone here in SH to make me a bull whip.  Not just any whip though- I'll only rock a 10 foot, 12 plait, kangaroo overlay.  I'm serious- I'm going to rock that thing and it's gonna be crash, bang, donkey!


EDITOR'S NOTE-  Homeboy just showed up to "fix" the wifi.  The owner"s agent IS the IT guy.....except after 2 hours he said he couldn't fix it and that he'd tell the owner....and they'd send someone to fix it.  What a bunch of ridiculousness!  So here I am connected to the Internet through a cable.  What is this 2008.....or should I say 2000 and late!?