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Tuesday, July 4th, 2006
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2:51 am - PICTURES!!!!
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My pictures of China, so far, can be found here. Be forewarned, the forbidden city section has a lot of pics. It is, after all, 1km long.
current mood:  tired
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| Sunday, July 2nd, 2006
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12:15 pm - so i did the touristy thing today
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I went and saw the forbidden city, today - a truly colossal set of structures. As I was going in, a girl approached me and offered to be a guide for 150 yuan, which is about $19. It was definitely worth it, as the little electronic tour guides that were being rented there were far more costly and couldn't answer any questions.
After the forbidden city was Tienamen Square. The signs billed it as the largest center city square in the world. I couldn't help but think of the fact that I was standing where a completely unarmed man stood down a tank. A fucking tank. I almost got weepy about that.
Then it was off to Wangfujing Street for random touristy crap. I had to buy another suitcase, as the one I brought with me was completely filled with clothes and tools. 240 yuan for the suitcase ($30). I've never seen things so cheap in my life. I'll post pics later, once I pull them off of my camera.
If I get the rest of my work done tomorrow, I'll probably take a trip to the great wall, on tuesday.
current mood:  happy
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| Saturday, July 1st, 2006
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2:58 pm - more news from the PRC
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So, I've been consuming a far bit of the local cuisine. Killer stuff. Unfortunately, that's the most of the indigenous culture that I've been able to soak up. It's Saturday afternoon, here and I'm in the office, trying to finish up everything there is to do. If all goes well and I can d/l the software I need, over this slow as fuck connection we've got, I might be able to finish almost all of my work, today. That would give me plenty of time for sightseeing and whatnot.
Last night, we went to dinner, at of all places, a Brazillian restaurant, called "Carnival". I don't have any pics as I was on the phone and sending emails to NY and London, the whole time, but I have to say, it was certainly interesting to see how the Chinese try to emulate the whole Carnivale sort of thing. The food was pretty good, too - more or less on par with the Brazillian restaurants in NY and NJ, to which I've been. To make it more interesting, Paul (my boss) and Richard (the Beijing manager) were trying to hook me up with the waitress. Don't get me wrong, she was cute and all, but it is a bit unnerving to have people talking about me, just a foot or two away, when I can't understand a single fucking word they're saying.
Today is the first day that I've been anywhere by myself. Granted, it's only to the office, but it's still somewhat discombobulating when you don't know the language and the best you can do is point at things on a piece of paper, make gestures and draw pictures to get your point across.
There are some definite differences in the way that people go about existing in public, here. The most significant are the fact that no one makes any eye contact, whatsoever, unless you're purposefully engaged in some interaction with them; and the way people get on and off the elevators. The first is pretty self-explanatory. The second, however, needs some clarification. In NY (and anywhere else that I've ever been), when people are waiting for entrance into any confined space - elevators, subways and the like - they allow the passengers exiting to get out of the space, before they attempt entry. This makes sense to me, as it would seem easier to get into a place when there are fewer people in it. Here, people just push their way in, sometimes not allowing the people inside to get out. It seems silly to me, but people here just don't seem to give a shit about that sort of thing. It's not a major thing, but just something I've noticed about the general socialization of people in Beijing. That is about the extent of my culture shock.
Otherwise, this is the first major city to which I've been that doesn't seem like a low-budget version of New York. Anywhere else to which I've gone seems like they want to be NYC, but just didn't bother bringing their A-game. Here, the pace and general ferocity of the populace is a little more in line with what I'm used to.
Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll be able to go and see the Forbidden City. If I do, there will most certainly be pictures posted.
current mood:  busy
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| Tuesday, June 27th, 2006
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10:35 am - first full day in beijing
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So, we did about half a day of work yesterday and a full day today. Were farther along than my boss wanted but not as far ahead as I'd like to be. If everything works out, I might be able to have everything built in four and a half days, instead of the two weeks that I was given. It might allow me home in time to grill dead things on the 4th of July.
Speaking of dead things, dinner was quite good for the past two nights. It has been a meat festival. Lunch was also pretty tasty. Monday's lunch was a veritable pork festival. It was oinktastic. Tonight, we had a really good Tibetan beer. When I find the link to it again, I'll post it.
It has ben very discombobulating to be in a situation in which I have no hope of fending for myself. At least most of the menus in the restaurants have pictures on them. Otherwise, I have to rely on the people on which I work with to tell me what's going on. Fortunately, I've been able to draw pictures to communicate with the technology vendors that they've got working with us. Not so much fun.
On another note, I could never drive here. I've driven in plenty of major US cities: Boston, San Francisco, Washington and of course, New York. The drivers here are completely psychotic. Seriously. They have no regard for anything and a complete lack of fear for their own mortality. One of the cabs we were in made a u-turn on a highway, in front of a 24 foot box truck. I think the truck missed us by about 6 inches. The driver didn't even blink. Not to mention, it seems like everyone starts from a stop by grinding through second gear - there's no pickup, whatsoever. I've often said that I could drive anywhere, but the people behind the wheel here are of a totally different breed. They are, apparently, the hard core of the hard core. I was told, though, that the drivers in Shanghai make those in Beijing look like total pussies. I can't imagine how these people walk with the set of balls that they must have. Quite impressive.
Oh...pictures here. Not a lot, so far. mostly stuff from the plane from a little before landing and a few shots from the car or the office. Behold, the Colonel's influence is truly global.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get some better pictures, tomorrow. Perhaps, on Saturday, I'll take a trip to the forbidden city and get some decent shots around there. For now, it's off to bed for me.
current mood: sleepy
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| Monday, June 26th, 2006
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12:56 am - greetings from beijing
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So, yeah, it's been some time since I posted. I stopped after a day in California.
But, not being one to stagnate, I'm on a new adventure.
Work has sent me to China for 2 weeks to build an office. There's a significant amount to do and relatively little time in which to do it, but hopefully I'll be able to get out a little bit. Flying business class helps, but it doesn't matter how comfy the seats are when you're on a plane for 13+ hours. I am not a fan.
We'll see how it goes. Pictures will come soon.
current mood: exhausted
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| Monday, March 6th, 2006
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11:06 am - california - day one
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The sun came out for a bit, when I drove René to class. I can also say that the whole fog-peeking-between-mountains thing is nice. It's quite picturesque out here. I'm pissed that I didn't remember my camera for the drive.
The downside - people move with no sense of purpose. They seem completely lackadaisical about they way that they walk and drive. Nobody really seems to speed, which is just alien to me. When they walk around, it's like they've got nowhere to go and all of the time in the world to get there. I'm so confused by this.
Nobody speaks terribly loudly or quickly. I stopped at a little restaurant in St. Helena to get breakfast. The food was incredible. I had corned beef hash, made completely from scratch. Very tasty. The odd thing was not feeling like the waitress needed me to move more quickly, so that more customers could be seated. I suppose that I'm so used to diners that I don't know what to do when I get breakfast food anywhere else.
The pace is hella slow. I just don't understand how people live like this. It would drive me insane if I was to be here for more than a week.
Dinner tonight should be good, though. We're going to a place called the French Laundry. It's supposed to be the best restaurant in the country, so I'm guessing that I'll be happy about that. The menu looks pretty crazy (in a good way), so I'm pretty stoked.
Im not sure if it's the environment here, or if I just can't handle the whole vacation thing. I know I need a vacation, but I just don't know if I'll be able to cope. Two weeks of not being at work is an awfully long time. I have a feeling that I'll want to go back before that. This is kind of sad.
More to come later on the slow craziness that is NoCal.
current mood: unnerved
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| Sunday, March 5th, 2006
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12:29 pm - fucking hate traveling
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So, I'm sitting at Newark Airport, finding out that my flight is delayed...yet again. My 11:50 flight got pushed back to 13:00 and we just heard an announcement that it will probably be delayed again, due to equipment problems. That is a terribly wonderful thing to hear for a person that is already deathly afraid of flying. On the upside, I suppose that it's better to catch those problems on the ground than in the air. Let's just hope they fucking fix whatever is wrong.
I can say, that getting a massage helped.
current mood:  anxious
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| Monday, February 27th, 2006
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4:51 am - list of movies that Jonathan shouldn't watch while flying
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So, since I'm deathly afraid of flying, I'll be trying to watch dvd's while I'm en route to California. I've been talking to people to come up with a list of things that I absolutely should not watch.
Alive
The Twilight Zone (there's something on the wing. some. thing. onthe. wing.)
Flightplan
Final Destination
Turbulence
Respond with submissions, so that this list can be truly complete.
current mood: good
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| Thursday, February 23rd, 2006
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12:51 am - THIS IS REALLY FUCKING BAD
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| Saturday, February 18th, 2006
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8:22 am - so i bought my plane tickets to california
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This is the first time that I've ever actually purchased airline tickets. Any other time that I've flown, I've always had someone else buying the tickets, so that I didn't have to think too much about it.
I'm flying from Newark to San Francisco on Sunday 5 March 2006 and returning to Newark on Friday 10 March 2006. I wish Rene lived closer, so I could visit more often. As it is, I already feel bad about being gone for 5 days. The cats will be less than pleased. Anyone who wants to keep them company and spend some time in my oh so comfy apartment should let me know.
I'm not such a big fan of the whole flying thing. Very upsetting for me. I'm actually surprised that I was able to complete the reservation without freaking out.
Ugh.
I don't wanna go on a plane. There's something about the whole 5 or 6 miles of air between me and the ground that I think is rather unnerving. I would drive to Napa, but it's not really warm enough to do the drive with my jeep's top down. (which is how I want to do a cross country trip)
current mood: anxious
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| Monday, February 13th, 2006
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3:13 am - So I went out today...
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After my foray into shoveling madness, I was talking with Rodney on IM. I think he was going a bit stir-crazy and wanted to borrow a few movies. I headed over to his place for lunch with him and his girlfriend, after which, we jammed for a a bit. For those of you who don't know, Rodney is one of the best bassists with whom I've ever played. He's just sick. But today was a guitar day. I tired myself out on a whole bunch of Seattle-tastic grunge. This was the first time I've sat down at a kit since Memorial Day weekend. I forgot how much I really do need to play, on a regular basis.
Lessons leaned from this:
Don't go for so long between times that I drum.
Don't try and sing Alice in Chains songs while drumming. I forget the words when I do this _and_ I play like shit.
Same thing goes for Soundgarden. (except that I sound even worse)
If we're gonna play and I'm gonna sing, I should look at the words in advance. It might help, a little.
Otherwise, things were cool. I'm still completely enamored with the snow. I blasted through an almost 3 foot high snow drift from a dead stop, just to get out of my parking spot. Snow exploded _everywhere_. It was marvelous. While out, I remembered power-slide through turns on snow and ice is one of the most fun things you can do with a Jeep. It really is a peek at sublime joy.
I love my Jeep and its massive ground clearance and Four Wheel Drive Goodness.
It was a long day (up at something like 0530) and I'm exhausted. I just have to make it through the rest of my workday - a little less than 6 hours to go.
current mood: tired
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| Sunday, February 12th, 2006
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9:58 am - SNEAUX!!!!!!!!!
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I love snow. I'm not precisely sure why...I just do.
I woke up at about 0530 to over a foot of it. After staring at the weather channel for a bit, I decided to make myself breakfast. I enjoyed some scrambled eggs, toast, coffee and OJ at my dining room table, looking out onto the street, heavily dusted in a fluffy blanket of wonderfulness.
As I was feeling quite industrious, I decided to go out and shovel. I took care of the porch, directly in front of the door and then the stairs down to the sidewalk. Clearing off the sidewalk came next. I got the entire width of the sidewalk infront of the house - about 8 feet wide and 25 feet long. This however, wasn't enough for me. Oh no.
My Jeep is parked around the corner, so I shoveled to the end of the street. I live three houses from the end of the block. Unfortunately, the Jeep is parked around the corner at the other end of the block. I shoveled all the way down there. I hope my neighbors appreciate this. I didn't do the entire width of the sidewalk, just enough to walk down. I lost my steam, at that point, though, and stopped there.
After jumping out into the street, I walked around the corner to see how deep it was buried. I didn't take any pictures of that, as the wind had kicked up and I wasn't up for having my camera covered in snow.
More to come, later.
Pictures here.
current mood: chipper
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| Friday, February 3rd, 2006
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8:58 am - Working in the evening has afforded me lots of TV time...
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So, I get to see a lot of commercials, between re-runs of Law and Order, Star Trek, ER, etc. One that has been shown, on numerous occassions, is for the various incarnations of Keebler's fudge covered cookies.
The general theme of the commercial is that sticking things in the "Magic Fudge Pot" always turns out perfectly. Last I heard, sticking things in the magic fudge pot isn't always appreciated. Some people dig it, but I'm certain that there are plenty of people that are a little less than keen on that notion.
Magic Fudge Pot.
That sounds so dirty...like a bad porn flick. I can just imagine some silicome-enhanced starlet, between moans, wailing, "Stick it in my magic fudge pot!!!"
Who new that the Keebler elves were such pervs.
current mood:  dirty
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| Saturday, January 21st, 2006
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12:49 pm - I hadn't realized precisely how out of shape I am
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I decided that I wanted to start running, again. So, this morning, I went and got a new pair of sneakers (the ones that I already owned were starting to come apart at the seams) and a couple of pairs of warmup type pants.
On the plus side, Adidas makes some really comfortable running shoes. I spent an hour in the store, just looking for shoes that would fit, and came up with only one pair that both fit and felt comfortable. Then I went to get some pants. I don't own any sweatpants, so I knew that I had no choice but to buy something. It took me going into 3 different stores to find pants that fit. Kohl's (where I got the sneakers) and Dick's Sporting Goods had nothing smaller than a medium, for any pants and very few of those, even. It took me another 30 minutes of looking through The Sports Authority to find pants that wouldn't drag on the ground. I found three pairs, in the entire store. I bought all three. I know that I lost a lot of weight and now no longer have to wear huge clothing, but the fact that I can never find pants that fit is ridiculous. I have big (wide) feet and short legs. This, apparently makes it a major project to appropriately clothe the lower half of my body.
I went to the park and decided to see how much I could run. I spent a little while stretching and then set off. I made it through about half a mile, before I had to start walking. The only reason that I don't feel too bad about doing such a small amount is that about a third of it was up a pretty steep incline (30 degrees, or so). After the first half mile, I had such bad lactic acid buildup that it felt like someone hit me in the stomach with a 2x4. I need to remember that if I want to run, I'm not supposed to smoke. It makes it much harder to give my body the oxygen that it so desparately needs.
On the up-side, I have found that Adidas makes the most comfortable pants _EVER_.
Tomorrow, I will try to increase my distance to failure to about .6 miles. I figure that if I increase my distance by .1 miles every day, I'll be up to 10 miles a day by the time it's more or less spring-ey. (not to mention that I'll be in way better shape by then)
In summary:
Bad: Running when you're out of shape.
Good: Super-comfortable pants & eventually not being out of shape.
current mood: wheezing
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| Thursday, January 5th, 2006
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8:25 am - Photos of the cats
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Pictures live HERE!
Behold their awesome cuteness and cuddliness.
...and they still haven't mauled each other. :)
current mood:  dorky
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| Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
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11:59 pm - the cats are acclimating
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So, Bob and Madeline seem to be having a not negative interaction. Yesterday was the first time I did not separate them while I was at work. When I got home there were two whole cats and not 4 or 5 parts of cats. I'll take this as a good sign. Pictures will come soon. I just need to decide how to put them up.
current mood: relieved
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| Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006
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1:43 pm - quote of the day
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"So, now what?"
"I have read of a place where humans do battle in a ring of jell-o."
I lessthanthree Stargate SG-1.
current mood: amused
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| Sunday, January 1st, 2006
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2:45 pm - So i got another cat...
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Yesterday, I adopted a second cat, as Bob has been getting pretty lonely. Her name is Madeline and she came from the Franklin Township Animal Shelter. Unfortunately, for me, there was someone from a newspaper there and I ended up getting photographed and subjected to a brief interview. I'm not a fan. I was woken up by three different people, just to tell me that my picture was in the paper.
The article can be found here.
Right now, my biggest concerns are that my initial attempts to introduce the two cats have been less than successful. When allowing them to interact through a the barely opened doors between my living room and dining room, they proceeeded to sniff each other's heads, profusely. This is normal. Then, Bob hissed at Madeline and was generally less than pleased. Madeline was appropriately freaked out by an unhappy cat that is three times her size.
I tried to allow them access to the entire house. This didn't work so well as Bob either slept on my lap or hid in the bottom of my closet and Madeline hid behind the small carts, adjacent to my desk.
I had to coax her out, this morning. She hasn't eaten much. Mostly she wants to sit near my feet, underneat my desk.
If anyone has suggsstions about what I can do to get them to acclimate to each other, faster and more smoothly, I'd be happy to hear it.
Otherwise, I'll post pictures of the two of them at some point, soon.
current mood:  okay
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| Monday, December 26th, 2005
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8:39 am - i don't know if they could have been more right
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I wonder if they saw my LC coffee table book? :)
Curvy and Naughty
Raw score: 74% Big Breasts, 59% Big Ass, and 32% Cute!
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Thanks for taking the T and A and C test! Based on your selections, the results are clear: you show an attraction to larger breasts, larger asses, and sexier composures than others who've taken the test.
Note that you like women overall curvier than average.
My third variable, "cuteness" is a mostly objective
measure of how innocent a given model looked. It's determined by a
combination of a lot of factors: lack of dark eye makeup, facial
expression, posture, etc. If you scored high on that variable, you are
either really nice OR you're into deflowering teens. If you scored low,
you are attracted to raunchier, sexier, women. In your case, your lower than average score suggests you appreciate a sexier, naughtier look. Kudos!
Recommended Celebrities: Supermodel Laetitia Casta and Actress Angelina Jolie.
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My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: | You scored higher than 88% on tit-size | | You scored higher than 72% on ass-size | | You scored higher than 3% on cuteness |
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current mood: tired
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| Tuesday, November 15th, 2005
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4:02 am - more from random news feeds
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pissed off
