Where’s the Beach Sancho?

For those of you who read my last blog and are assuming that I’m outside of Shanghai on our next assignment then you guys are in for a shocking surprise.  That’s right, we got another last minute phone call and destination change from the head honchos in Chicago.  Instead of heading to Hong Kong and then to China, we were now supposed to head to Malaysia, stopping in Kuala Lumpur to prep for one day (wheew..dodged a bullet on that one).  While this information is absolutely great, we got even better news, we were instructed to take 5 days of vacation before the next job started.

In an effort to not rub this in everyone’s face (send all hate mail and negative comments to someone who deserves it, maybe the class suck up..I even have some in my online classes), I’ll keep the details of our vacation brief and uneventful.  But, be assured that our trip was neither uneventful or dull.  I’m not even sure how we pulled this one off, but we did, and we ended up spending 5 awesome days in Thailand, specifically Phuket and Ao Nang. We didn’t even book our flight to Thailand until we arrived in Kuala Lumpur…got the ticket for an early departure the next day, then we headed to our hotel in KL to try and book hotel rooms for the next 5 days.  I think I’m getting pretty good at this last minute holiday booking stuff, it’s frustrating as hell trying to get it done but once you arrive it’s well worth the hassle. This trip was the make-up for the 5 months we toiled out in Jiao Kou River Town, although if it was a true make-up then we’d spend at least a month in Thailand, but I’m not complaining one bit! I’ll post a few pics of the trip in the blog and I’ll move onto more regular banterand let the face rubbing cease with the pics.

So, right now we’re sitting in Melaka, Malaysia (half way between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore) getting ready for about a 6 week job, but I hope it’s longer!  I’d like to enjoy another winter in 90 degree weather and miss out on the blistering cold of Chicago which I’ve, up to now, have missed three in a row.  There seems to be some nice things to do around here, but I’ve yet to make it out into the city and roam around like a stray dog. Perhaps I’ll make it out in a few hours and see what’s up around here, maybe see if I can make it out towards the sea (most refineries are on the coast so we’re usually near the water). There is a chance, that if I can find some binoculars, that I can see the island if Sumatra, Indonesia from the roof of our hotel. Melaka is located on a fairly narrow straight that divides Indonesia from the Malaysian penisula.

I have to start getting ready for my Advanced Seminar class which is the final GIANT project needed to graduate with your MPA so even though most people are off for a few weeks, I’ll have to start thinking about and preparing for this project. I guess the semester has ended and this might be our last blog for the year.  I’m sure everyone will miss the random stories I present, well, maybe my mom will.  You can always count on moms to give awesome feedback; however, I did receive some funny, random comments throughout the semester.  Anyways, congrats to everyone on finishing up the semester, now you’re one step closer to graduation and that job with the CIA you always wanted!

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Explosion = Freedom

So a lot has happened over the past week or so.  Thanksgiving came and went and I just officially finished my last paper five minutes ago. (cracking open a Miller High Life as we speak) The only thing I have left to do is to read and comment on fellow student’s paper next week and I’m done.  My other class finished early so I don’t have to worry about that anymore.  It’s a good way to wind down the semester which is usually not the norm.  Usually I finish up with both of my classes on a big paper or final exam on the final week.  I think I like this method a little better.

As far as my location goes, a timely explosion has rewarded us with a release from that hellish compound we were living in.  Sometime last Friday the refinery was lighting a heater, a really big one, and it exploded.  Since it would take about one month to fix they told my wife to leave, so here we are…relaxing in Taipei.  My wife just found out this morning that we are now heading ……BACK TO CHINA!!!   After her boss even told her that “since I’m sure you’re tired of China by now we’ll see what else is open” right before we left for Taiwan so I was a bit shocked, especially since there was another job in Malaysia starting at exactly the same time.  OH well, what can you do? I think we’re flying to Hong Kong tomorrow to get our Chinese Visa before we either take a few days of vacation or head to Beijing to prep for the next job. The only good news about the new assignment is that it’s right outside Shanghai, so it’s not remote and it makes getting out of there a lot easier.  I guess we’ll be spending another Christmas in China, but hopefully the job won’t take that long.

As far as the past few days have been it’s been nice getting to relax in Taipei.  We even took the opportunity to watch a movie in a theater, which we haven’t done in over a year.  We played some arcade games and won a few prizes, none of which are worth mentioning, and we’ve visited some unique restaurants which finally served me a piece of sushi that I enjoyed.  Perhaps it was just the wasabi that masked the flavor of raw fish that made it enjoyable.

I guess everyone has seen the Tiger Woods debacle on TV and ESPN all week.  It’s almost as bad as those two media whores that crashed the White House dinner last week.  I hate when the media picks up on a story that doesn’t have anything to do with useful news and they play it constantly, over and over and over again until I can memorize the quotes used by one of Tiger’s skanky tramps who are trying to get their 15 minutes of fame as well.

OK,time for me to sign off, just had to rant a little on CNN (because that’s what i’m watching now) and their portrayal of “news” and the redundancy that goes along with it.  Hope everyone wraps up the semester on a good note and good luck with any tests or projects that have to be finished up in the final week!

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Refinery Complexities

I can only imagine how many of the random few who come across my blog realize how another week in a compound will give rise to yet another blog and potentially another reason many of you have grown sick of my rambling, but I argue that this lifestyle challenges me to be..blah blah blah…I tried to be positive and offer some words of wisdom, but nothing about a refinery compound is all that glamorous.  This blog will just be another brief window into a refinery compound and the daily routine that constitutes my life for another few weeks.  Honestly, I’d apologize if I had anything else interesting to talk about but I don’t, and unfortunately for you, this is what your going to get.  When I’m stuck in ANOTHER complex (yes, engineers often call this a refinery complex, hence the title) that revolves around the refining of crude oil then my sanity, however questionable it may be, succumbs to the monotony of daily compound life…again.

With that being said, I have to mention that this week is technically “Fall Break” for the University of Co, but as it just so happens, taking online classes really doesn’t provide you with any breaks.  Sure, I could take the week off and not do anything, but that doesn’t help out the deadline of my paper, which I’m struggling to find the motivation to do. I guess since taking online classes allows me ample opportunity to explore a lot of different locations while traveling, it also forces you to be self motivated in order to get everything accomplished on time.  Fortunately I’ve never had a problem with getting my school work done, but since this is my last semester of classes before my capstone class, I seem to be running on fumes.  I need to recharge my batteries before my final hurdle to graduation…If I could fine some turkey for Thanksgiving, that might just be the ticket for finishing off the semester.

I’m guessing this Thanksgiving, compared to last years, will be a little disappointing.  Last year we were in India and, granted they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, they did provide a turkey meal out by the pool which satisfied my craving for a “traditional” Thanksgiving meal.  Nope, this year I’m expecting my wife to be working away at the refinery and I’m going to enjoy a nice can of tuna fish and maybe some prawn flavored potato chips.  Oh well, not much we can do about it except for trying to get out of here ASAP.

So, the only thing even relatively interesting to happen this past week was our trip into town where we mistakingly thought that we’d find some good food.  Apparently, the Taiwanese think that all American’s like Fried Chicken.  While I don’t dislike it, I just think it’s funny that they stereotype all of us based on one food; however, it’s not like we don’t think that all Asians enjoy rice at every meal. Like Dave Chappelle has said before, “We have stereotypes for a reason” (and if he didn’t say it, then I did)…I mean come on, what would Rick James think about this?  We walked into a typical “Taiwanese” hot pot restaurant and the first thing the young lady said, who spoke pretty good English, was “They serve fried chicken across the street”.  I couldn’t help but laugh and make a rude comment that’s not acceptable to post on here.  Believe it or not, as determined as I was to find something decent to eat, we ended up across the street, eating fried chicken, all the while I stared across the street at this young lady thinking to myself “it’s a good thing you know martial arts, because I wouldn’t normally stand for this.”

Other than another encounter with stereotypes, I haven’t had too much fun around here.  I’ve been doing some workouts on the 1980’s style home gym and trying to not flip out when the fire alarm starts going off, it’s gone off twice today already.  Hopefully everyone has a nice Thanksgiving and a good encounter with a Turkey and some Triptophan, maybe take back a few beers and watch the Lions loose another game.

Click Here Now…Just to Get Ready For Thanksgiving!!!

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