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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Asia Again?

The week and a half family trip is over.  I’ve taken three separate flights and driven 500 miles and I think my body is letting me know it.  I feel exhausted, but I’m glad that I got to spend some time with everyone else, because just as you might have guessed we’re off to another assignment.  Fortunately for me I got to find some time to squeeze some school work in, and now I have to find some time to prep for a big exam this week.

We flew back into Chicago on Sunday and I tried to get some rest, but as things should have it, our rest was short lived.  Originally we were supposed to leave for Taiwan once the agreement was signed, but the agreement was never signed and our tickets had yet to be issued.  Well, we got a phone call early Tuesday morning, around 7:00am, telling us that the customer wanted us in Taiwan ASAP, and asked if we could be on a plane the same day at noon.  That phone call set a spark under our tails because we had to finish packing, go get a Typhoid shot, return the rental car and head to the international terminal.  We finally made it and here I am, again, 35,000ft above the pacific ocean heading to Tokyo for a connecting flight to Taipei.

I could spend this time ranting on how much I hate flying economy on long flights, but that would just make me sound like a pompous ass.  But, the truth is, once you fly in business or first class on an international flight of 8hrs or more, then flying coach on a 12.5hr flight is enough to drive you nuts.  I tried to upgrade using my miles, but the airline makes it so bloody difficult that I question the reason I even accumulate them.  Now, I’m sitting next to some Talky McTalkerson (remember who coined this phrase!) who keeps putting his feet up on the bulkhead in front of us.  If any of you find the need to do that on a long flight, or any flight, make sure you’re socks match.  Oh well, can’t do anything about it now, guess I need to suck it up and fight the urge to give someone the Roadhouse (see this past weeks episode of Family Guy) while sitting in my tiny seat not being able to sleep.

Apparently we’re heading to a small town in Taiwan that might resemble the small rural town we were stuck in in China; however, we are within driving distance of Taipei, the capital, so we can make an escape if needed.  I am also a little scared because we’ll be staying in a refinery compound, which means, there is not sh!t to do there.  Consequently my wife e-mailed some colleagues that have been to this location before and found out that it’s not nearly as bad as good ol’ Jiou Kou River Town in BFE China…we all know how much I enjoyed that place.  I think there may be some food to eat and a small grocery store to hit up for extra supplied if needed.  At least this assignment is only scheduled for three weeks, but I know how that goes.  If you’r in a crappy location, the assignments last forever, but if you get sent somewhere nice, they go by faster.  Kharma is a bitch.  I should have fed those sacred cows a little more when I was in India.

I’ll have to apologize for the lack of pictures; although, I’m going to post one pic from last week at the Goat Bar that best represents my mood right now (see below).  I’m going to post this while I’m sitting in the Tokyo airport waiting for our connection.  Since my camera cords are in my checked luggage I couldn’t get any recent pictures onto my computer to upload, but that may be good for you.  Just imagine the person sitting immediately to the left of you, regardless of the sex of the person, and pretend they have messed up hair, blood shot eyes, and a pissed off snarl of a look on their face; it may very well resemble some of your co-workers, but that’s what I look like now.  Poor Sancho doesn’t feel any better himself and he actually started barking at the Japanese security screener when we went through security a few minutes ago.  DOWN BOY!!

AHHHHHH Another Loud Talker is Standing RIGHT BESIDE ME….it’s 3:15am in Chicago and my last nerve was severed when I figured out the air conditioning is non existent in this airport.

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Everything is Bigger in Texas…Including the Loud Talkers

My wife and I are finally back in the states, and since she didn’t get to see her family before we left for Italy, we’re now on a week and a half family tour, including trips to Texas, Virginia and North Carolina, before heading back to Chicago and leaving for Taiwan, our next assignment.  I’ve never been to Texas before, but since my sister and brother in-law and two year old nephew live just outside Dallas/Fort Worth then we had to fly down and see them.  It’s been well over a year since we’ve seen our nephew and as you might have guessed he was a bit unsure of who we were.  But, the trip was great and we made a connection with our nephew and he now refers to us as something that vaguely resembles our name.

I noticed on the news that Colorado was getting pounded with snow last week and I thought it was great, but then again, I didn’t have to drive in it.  I did notice that the university was closed on Thursday and I thought how great it must be to have a snow day.  Since I’m doing my classes online the poor weather doesn’t provide a good enough excuse to have a day off.  Although, I’ve been getting my work done, I do have to say I have a class this semester that is being administered very poorly by the professor. For the third time this semester he has not published the work for us to do.  The readings are published but he fails to open the classwork links and the entire class sends e-mails wondering when we’ll be able to access it.  Of course, as uninvolved as he is, he doesn’t respond until Friday where he tells us that he’ll give us another week to complete the work, while he reduces the amount of work for future weeks.  Sure that’s all great and all, but I still don’t want to have to do more work than usual on any given week, especially since I’m traveling and have a research paper to do. But, enough about my slack professor and on to my Texas trip.

All in all, Texas, from what I got to see, was really cool.  I got to visit the place in Dallas where President Kennedy was assassinated and I got to visit the historic stockyards in Fort Worth, where I got to ride a longhorn.  We took the nephew trick-or-treating and watched the Texas OSU game on TV.  My brother-in-law is an alum of Texas so we were decked out in the burnt orange while our nephew yelled “hook-em.”   As you know, everything in Texas is big, including the BBQ ribs we had…awesome, but apparently there are an astounding number of loud-talkers here, and I know you guys know what a loud-talker is.  They’re those people who get on a cell phone, or start a conversation with their neighbor, and you can hear their entire conversation from across a large room.  Apparently in Texas, you find loud talkers that are so loud you can hear them from across the new Dallas Cowboys arena.  I heard an entire conversation from some guy, more than 25ft away with a football game on TV, about his ailing parents and how to trick them into taking walks; it involved a “boom-box” (FYI, the 1980’s called and they want their lingo back), and some inappropriate information on geriatric digestion.  WOW…I don’t know why people talk this loud, maybe they think people give a sh!t, but trust me…I don’t, and when it comes to the digestion patterns of someone else’s parents, I don’t think many other people care as well.  Be warned Loud-Talkers, and you know who you are…just STOP IT, NOBODY CARES!

So, here I am, again, about 35,000ft above Mississippi, heading to NC to visit some friends and family.  Before we head to VA we plan on stopping in Raleigh, NC, our old home, and visiting some friends at our old favorite bar, The Goat Bar.  It’s by far the coolest bar in NC and on Sunday evening’s they have “mystery beer” night, where they reach in a huge tub and pull out several leftover and mix-n-matched beers for only a buck.  It sure beats the $5 bottles in Chicago.  Rest-assured, I’ll have to post this on Mon, so I can place a pic or two of us at “The Goat” and I’ll definitely have a mystery beer…or five, for you guys….Cheers!

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