Chiner. Warning: Lengthy Post!

I hope none of you have held your breath or even waited with baited breath to hear about my vacation in February. Finally, four months later I get around to telling about it. Likely I've forgotten many of the nuances of it and all the good jokes I thought of originally for this post.

Person I traveled with: Beth (my cousin)
People we stayed with: Dean (Beth's brother) & Erin and their three kids Devin, Dara, and Erik
Other travelers who made cameo appearances: Walt & Pearl (Beth's parents)
City we were visiting: Shanghai, China

An interesting fact about Shanghai is that it's actually a city-state, and Shanghai is divided into two parts. Puxi, which is the older part of Shanghai, is located on the west side of the river that flows through Shanghai. The other half of Shanghai is called Pudong, which is on the east side of the river. Pudong was basically a huge marsh until the Chinese government decided around 1990 that they were going to make it a big development area. Dean & Erin live in Pudong.

Here's the short summary. My top 10 favorite/memorable things about China:

1. A culture so different it's hard to imagine before you get there, but it's still fun to experience and see new things. Plus, we got to see and experience it from a halfway "local" point of view since we didn't have to stay in a hotel.
   
2. The tea. I didn't get to try or buy ALL the tea in China, but I had fun sampling a bunch of different kinds and brought a few varieties home. At the tea stores, they always try to sell the "round eyes" Jasmine tea first because it comes in a cool ball that opens up into a flower, and according to them it's good for your complexion.
3. Hot Pot. Delicious.
4. Massages. CHEAP! I didn't think the massage hurt too much, but some people do recommend you learn how to say "softer" in Chinese before going just in case you get a zealous masseuse.
5. The negotiating game. I wasn't a fan at first, but once you get the hang of it it's kind of fun.
6. Learning what it felt like to be a minority and get started at. A lot. And pointed at by little kids.
7. Chinese acrobats. Amazing - I have no idea how those people can do some of that weird contortionist stuff.
8. Seeing my uncle excited about taking pictures of everything new and different he saw in China.
9. Little fried dumpling things that were vegetables in the middle with a rice paper outside. Yummy.
10. Public toilets: Sometimes it was just a trough, and always bring your own toilet paper if you plan to be using any toilet paper.
11. Some good looking skirts in some fabrics you don't usually see in the U.S. All at good prices.
12. Erik's tricky pig latin: Iblebay Agbay.

Oops, I guess that was a Top Dozen. That was the short version. Below is the long version to help you understand all the various pictures I posted. If you're going to look at the pictures, I would recommend allowing about 30 minutes or so - I managed to pare the collection down to about 250 from the 600 or 700 that I had.

Enough facts and such. Here's the long summary of the trip:

1. Saturday & Sunday: Spent the days(s) flying to Shanghai, China. I managed to read the whole Shanghai "Lonely Planet" guide book on the way there, which I found surprisingly interesting and helpful despite me not being a non-fiction reader. I also spent some time kicking the back of Beth's seat. ;-) There were a whole bunch of Chinese middle school kids on the plane that were on their way home to China, apparently after taking a tour of America. They ran around in the aisles a lot. Luckily the seat next to mine (in coach) was empty, so I can't really complain too much about the flight. When we got into China, we managed to communicate with a cab driver enough to show him the address where we wanted to go, and we made it to Dean and Erin's. They weren't back from their weekend excursion, so we let ourselves in and hit the hay not too long after - at about 8:00 PM. The lull of Chinese New Year fireworks put us to sleep (it's the year of the rat you know).
2. Monday: Woke up at around 7:00 AM - the jet lag wasn't too bad. After eating breakfast and stuff, we traveled down to this big fabric market, but unfortunately it was closed (stupid Chinese New Year). No getting a good start for us on the clothes we wanted made by the ladies in the sewing sweatshops. :-( So, we walked around some looking at the Old Town part of Puxi and watching a guy make popcorn. The place was pretty dead because of Chinese New Year, which is kind of like Christmas in the U.S. We also made a stop at a local market, which was not very lively either, and the fresh food wasn't so fresh because of CNY. It had a bonus of a 2 year old pointing to us and saying "foreigner" in Chinese. When the kids got home from school, we went out to eat at an Indian restaurant. Jet lag was setting in hard, so we were dead by the time supper was done. Fireworks were going on again that night.
3. Tuesday: Ah yes, the day of the paparazzi. We went to the YuYuan Gardens, which is a famous tourist attraction, apparently for foreigners and natives. There were lots of pagodas, little shops, and, as the name implies, a garden. Just like the U.S., some people don't get out as much as others, and we had at least three incidents where Chinese people very obviously took our picture (without our permission I might add). One guy even followed us for a few blocks as we looked at different shops. Erin was the most popular with her reddish blond hair. That afternoon we went to the Jin Mao tower, which is currently the tallest building in Shanghai, but there is another one under construction in the city that will be taller I think. Anyway, we did the usual gawking at the city and picked up our free (fresh) pearl that came with our entrace ticket, and then left. That night we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. It's amazing how cheap most food is there.
4. Wednesday: This was a lazy day. We went to the grocery store with Dean and Erin, ate at a noodle place (possibly Japanese, it was hard to tell) for lunch, and then Beth and I went and got a traditional Chinese massage. It was great, but sometimes not clear what was expected since the masseuse didn't know much English. We only paid like $7.00 for 45 minutes. Thank you Chinese economy. My guide book said that being a massage person is often the job of a blind person in China (ours were able to see though). That evening we had "class" with some of Dean and Erin's friends. That afternoon I also listened to a brief tutorial on learning and pronouncing basic Chinese, and I learned enough that I can better pronounce the words on the back of fortunes from fortune cookies now. Wednesday evening was kind of the last hurrah of the CNY, so there were some major fireworks going on that night too. The Chinese actually invented fireworks according to the guide book.
   
5. Thursday: Dean, Beth, and I took a taxi to Suzhou (said Sue-Joe), which is another city about an hour away. It's famous for its gardens, and it was one of the places where silk was made/harvested in large quantities back in the Marco Polo days. The guide book had been very trustworthy most of the time, but one time it failed us. The book had directions on how to get to this really old bridge (like hundreds of years old), but apparently it wasn't clear enough because we drove around for an hour looking for it. We finally gave up and went back home and just looked at a picture of it on the internet. That night Walt and Pearl came in for a couple days' stay too.
6. Friday: Walt, Dean, Beth, and I went on a quest to find the cheap eyeglasses place that a coworker had told Dean about. First we found the "rich people's" eyeglass store, but after some wandering we finally found the genuine "cheap" place. It was really amazing. There were probably more than 100 eyeglass stores all crowded around the entrance of this one Subway platform. I was able to get a pair of prescription sunglasses there for $30, I kid you not. They weren't name brand, but who cares? After having lunch and getting our glasses, we went to the People's Square and looked around for awhile, then we headed back to Dean & Erin's. That night some people came over for supper and visited.
7. Saturday: The fabric market was finally open! We headed there posthaste and spent several hours negotiating prices and looking for the best fabric deals. This is also one of the better deals in Shanghai: relatively cheap fabrics (cashmere, silk, cotton were the favorites), and they'll make you pretty much any article of clothing you want. All at discount prices, especially if you're a good negotiator. After we got home, Beth, Erik, and I went to what they call the "Fake Market" at the entrance to a different subway station. Lots of stuff, all "very good quality, for you they make special deal" - we bought some souveniors there and had fun negotiating. "Pretty lady, you want to buy watch? Purse? Shoes?" That evening some of us went to see the Chinese acrobats. They're amazing and a must-see if you go to China. At the end of the show, they did the stunt of putting 6 motorcycles (count them: 6) in a metal cage, and then they all drove around inside the cage simultaneously.
8. Sunday: We had "class" again (even though we always have class :-P ), and some of Dean and Erin's friends stayed for lunch. That evening Beth and I went down by the river and took some awesome pictures of "The Bund", which is all these fancy buildings down there that are lit up. Being the veteran taxi cab users we were by this time, we managed to get there and back using sign language and the 5 Chinese words I knew by then. For supper, we went to have some renowned Chinese "Hot Pot". It's just like it sounds - a big hot pot in the middle of the table. You dip/throw your veggies and meat into the pot with the flavored broth, then fish them out when they're done cooking and enjoy. In my opinion, it was delicious and probably some of the best Chinese food I had while I was there.
9. Monday: I went to the fabric market to pick up the clothes I had commissioned to be made. Being a full taxi expert, I went there and back by myself. Then, I headed to the airport. I took the MagLev to the airport, which is a magnetically levitated train that goes 431 km/h. Beth had caught an earlier flight, so I had to make the return trip alone, and the seat beside me was full on the airplane. :-( Needless to say, it wasn't as much fun going that direction, and the jet lag was worse. I went to bed at 11:00 PM that night and woke up at 4:00 AM the next morning wide awake.

The post got a little long, but hopefully you enjoyed the travelogue!

Farewell

Well, today I sold Reggie. I only felt a little bit guilty selling him. And no, I didn't cry. I think he's going to a pretty good home. He'll be driven by a 16 year old boy now instead of by me, which may be a bit harder life than he had with me seeing how I babied him all the time with a nice garage, oil change every 3,000 (well, at least 5,000) miles, and a car wash at least once every 6 months whether he needed it or not. He might even get "tricked out" now that a male teenager owns him. I was actually pretty amazed at how quickly he sold (the car, not the kid). I put the ad up on work's want ads last night, and by 10:00 AM this morning a lady had already called about it. By 7:00 PM this evening he was gone from the driveway. Maybe that means I sold him for too little? If so, I don't really care. It's more than I would have gotten trading him in, and it's not like I was expecting to make a heap of money off him anyway.

In other news, Saturday was wildlife day in my front yard. I swear robins must have a special sensor that can tell when there's fresh-turned earth around, because any time I start working on my flower garden a robin shows up about five minutes later looking for bugs and earthworms.



Also, as I was minding my own business, suddenly these three baby racoons show up about 15 or 20 feet away. I ran into the house and got my camera, and they were still hanging around when I got back. What was interesting was that they make kind of a high-pitched purring sound - not sure if that's how they talk to eachother or if that's their "stay back, human" warning tone. I was tempted to take my shovel and whack them on the head because you know in a few months when they're adults they're going to be nuisance varmints. But, after I thought about it, I decided I wanted to keep my good rabies-free health record. With three of them, they could have ganged up on me faster than I could swing my shovel, and I was wearing shorts too. Here's one of them posing for the camera ("I think I'll just stand here, lean against the tree, and be cool").


"OK, being cool isn't working, let's scram and bug the people across the road. Farm out, gravy, right arm - see you later flower bed lady."

Happy Trails

I took a "2nd Annual" Memorial Day trip out to Wyoming over the weekend. Like always, it was a good time, and I appreciated many of the same things as last time. Not everything was the same of course, but it's good to have variety. I actually didn't take many pictures, and I didn't take any "people" pictures. I had to borrow one from my sister to get the one below (me and a FEW of the cool people I hung out with this weekend).


I did get a scenery picture I thought was good enough to put on the title bar of my blog. Normally I like to reserve it for a good lake or sunset picture, but I thought I'd mix it up a little. I didn't take any pictures of the best scenery I saw because we were driving in the car and I decided to just enjoy the view instead of trying to fruitlessly take pictures that wouldn't show the true beauty of the road we were on anyway.

I thought I would share some things that totally cracked me up while I was there (which is a good thing).

1. Apparently there are things more dangerous than drugs and alcohol in Wyoming. I saw a lady wearing a T-shirt with a picture of an upside down cow that said "Cow Tipping Anonymous". True story, no joke - I actually saw this.
2. Jen. 'Nuff said.
3. Uncle John. I think the only things he likes more than teasing are God, Aunt Esther, and bugs. ;-) Maybe his kids and grandkids too.
   
4. Being at a nursing home and overhearing a CNA ask two roommates whether they wanted the fried egg sandwich or the tomato soup with tuna fish sandwich for supper. One of the ladies then replied that she wanted vegetable soup with her usual bologna sandwich, and the other lady said she also wanted vegetable soup with a PB&J sandwich. I don't know why, but that totally tickled my funny bone. I think you had to be there though.
   

Second Fiddle

Well, Reggie officially became second fiddle, I mean car, today when I bought my new car. It pained me to do it, but it seemed like it was time. I do still own Reggie and am now looking for a good home for him, so let me know if you know someone who would want him.


The bigger question now is, what is this new car's name? I think it's a guy car, so leave me a comment with your proposed name. If you think it looks like a girl, submit a girl name, but it better be good if you're attempting to change his gender!


P.S. Yes, I did end up buying a Mazda6 Hatchback/5-Door.

Stumped

Well, I can't say I've felt very creative this past week. I've had a few mediocre blog post ideas, but none of them very stellar. I thought about posting a picture of the bird who flew too close to the ground and died hitting my dining room window. Or, I could talk about work, but how boring is that? I could post a picture of the flower beds I'm working on planting, but they're not very remarkable either, and I've barely just started that project. So, there's not much going on here folks. However, I think there will be more excitement coming in the next week or so. You few readers that I have left will just need to be patient. I have managed to sort through all my China pictures, labeled them, and am working on uploading them to the web for your viewing pleasure. Once again, patience required until I'm done. The new car is more and more imminent, but not here yet either......same with the long weekend. Patience is the word of the day. ;-)

Taste of Spring

Everything is much greener now than when this picture was taken, I'm just a little slow on the post. I can't complain about this backyard view.

Lean On Me

Here are my new digs after I moved everything into the cube but before I had a chance to get it all organized.


Here they are after about 3S's. My (former) cube mate gave me one of her extra monitors, so notice my sweet monitor setup now. Yeah baby! You can also see part of my desk. I always wondered what color it was.














An interesting thing to note is that I no longer have a cube mate. I'm not sure yet if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I also now sit across the aisle from the department secretary and my General Manager. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing either, but I'm pretty sure I'll know a lot more about the department goings on now as I eavesdrop over the cube wall. Does anybody need me to verify any rumors for them?

5S - A LEAN Machine

Due to changes in personnel and a manager's desire for his new hire to be mentored by my (former) cubicle mate, I was asked to change cubicles at work. You faithful readers know from past experience what an organizational wizard I am. But, I guess the managers thought I still had a few things to learn about organizing because they presented this move as an opportunity to 5S my cubicle. 5S is a popular phrase for people who are familiar with LEAN manufacturing. If you don't know what LEAN manufacturing is, then go google it. So anyway, I thought I would show you how successful I was.

Before 5S
Although not all that much different from 18 months ago, this picture was actually taken right before I moved. Pre-LEAN 5S's, and I do sort of resent the implications here:

• Scrounge
• Steal
• Stash
• Scramble
• Search

After 5S
I guess I may have gotten a little bit extreme. The "real" 5S's are:

• Sort (check)
  
• Set In Order (check)
  
• Shine (check)
  
• Standardize (Huh? Not sure this is necessary in a cube...)
  
• Sustain (Yeah.....pretty sure I'm not going to be able to maintain this standard of cleanliness.)
  

Rejected

Some survey person called me this evening, but after finding out how much money I make and my ethnicity, they said they didn't need my opinion after all. Discrimination! I wonder what economic bracket and ethnicity they were really looking for? Based on my address, I can take a pretty good guess.

P.S. Someone e-mailed me this picture today, and I thought it was funny. It's irrelevant if you do since this is my blog. I post what I want. I think it's funny the guy used the word capacitor on his sign. For future reference, do NOT give this guy money! There is no such thing as a flux capacitor.

Bird's Eye View

I realized the other day that within the space of two months, I was in two of the tallest buildings in the world. One was the Jin Mao tower in Shanghai, China, and the other was the good old Sears Tower in Chicago. So here's a little "contrast" of the two buildings and their views.

From my brief research on the internet, it appears as though Shanghai (the urban area) has a population of about 14. 5 million people and is one of the 10 largest cities in the world. Chicago (the urban area) has somewhere between 7 and 9 million people and is somewhere between #25-#30 in world city populations. Enjoy the view....

Shanghai, China







































Chicago, IL, USA

It's All In the Eye of the Beholder....

....Or at least the marketing person. I saw this a long time ago and finally remembered to post it. Sometimes it's a good thing, right? That's how we got post-it notes, which is one of the greatest inventions ever.

Travels of Recent Weeks

Let's see.....in the last couple couple of weeks I went to Mexico, flew in and out of Chicago twice (this included some flight rerouting due to the AA flight cancellations), went to ND/MN, and took a day trip to Chicago with some people from work. That's pretty much what kept me busy and why there was a gap in my blogging that Melanaway scolded me for promptly. ;-) I applaud her for helping me to keep up to my own blogging standards.

My trip to Mexico was a whirlwind one. Although it was 99 degrees there during the day, there was no suntanning involved unless you count the fluorescent one I got in the manufacturing plant. The only interesting picture I took while I was there (that's G rated and/or not company confidential of course) was this one. I didn't know sharks had started to evolve enough that they come on land and disguise themselves as buses, but apparently they have.


My picture taking ability wasn't much better in MN. I didn't even get a picture of my newly engaged sister and her fiance. How stupid is that? Congratulations to them by the way. This is one of the few good pictures I took. I didn't know you could go down to the local market and pick up cute little kids like that. I bet Jess sand Lana wish they would have known that before they went the traditional route. Or maybe only 3 year olds have access to that special market?


Here's a few pictures from the day trip to Chicago.

John (the guy whose quote I have posted right now) - walking on water. At least he has a good name already for doing that kind of thing.


We visited "the bean" - for fun, or if you're bored, you could count the number of times you can find Mel in this picture. Here's a hint: Mel is wearing a bright yellow coat, she is not wearing a white and red striped shirt.


I've heard a lot about Jim Jardine, but I didn't know Chicago had named a water treatment plant after him....


In case of fire, climb 25 flights of metal stairs down to the ground.


I'm not sure if this was related to the wiring inspection flight cancellations, but it was interesting anyway. This was right before they walked into the NBC studio in Chicago.


It's always helpful when people label stuff for you. Just to be clear we did NOT find the chief corner stone here though.

Earthshaking

Early yesterday morning there was a 5.2 earthquake in southern Illinois. Some of the people at work were awakened by the small tremors from it way up here and actually felt them. Apparently I sleep more soundly than that because I didn't feel anything. However, many of the people I work with live in southern Indiana, so they were only 45 miles from the epicenter and definitely felt it. Part of our conference call with them yesterday was spent looking at the USGS Google Earth plug-in. Luckily no tsunamis resulted here on the lake. Then I would have been in big trouble.

Video of a local Indiana TV station that was on the air when the earthquake happened

Newspaper article

Random Thoughts (Again)

Whew, it's been awhile. Since I last posted I've traveled this country and another country too. I took a few pictures but haven't had time to download them yet. So, until tomorrow when I can do something more substantial, here's few random thoughts from my travels.

1. There are few things that make you feel more alone than to eat at a fancy restaurant alone in a foreign country.
2. There are few things that can warm your heart more than to have your two nieces come running out of the house excited to see you when you come to visit.
3. Arrachera, flaming cheese, and salsa - what could be better?

I know I had some other random (and profound) thoughts, but they escape me now. More later if they come to mind again.....

Paintball Perils

That's gonna leave a mark.....and to think I paid good money to be abused like this.

Some Of My Newest Babies Have Arrived!

It took two years of intense "labor", but they finally came out of the chute. Check out just a couple versions of my newest babies below. Of course, I can't claim all the credit and these pictures don't really do them justice because you can only really get the full effect of my work when the power is on. But you kinda sorta get the idea.



I was in sunny Arkansas last week, and sometimes when I travel for work by myself I figure it might get a little boring in the evenings and stuff, but it's always a pleasant surprise when you meet someone new at meeting or at work and they're so friendly and inviting and hospitable to a lonely traveler. I try to remember how much I appreciate it when people do that and pass on the favor to others, but I'm afraid I fall pretty far short of returning the favor most times.

A Quarter Of A Century

When I checked Jen's blog, I got tagged to do this thing here. I'm pretty sure it was a sneaky way to try to get me to kinda sorta do my 100 things. If you have a blog, your blog has just been tagged. Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

Finish the sentence:
1. Maybe I should quit dinking around and go to bed at a decent hour.
2. I love both kinds of music. Country and Western.
3. People would say that I'm special, just like my cousin Ed.
4. I don't understand how people can think it was a good party if they can't remember it.
5. When I wake up in the morning I hit the snooze button several times.
6. I lost my grip on reality a long time ago.
7. Life is full of surprises. Duh.
8. My past is what makes me who I am today.
9. I get annoyed when people call you and then you spend time on the phone listening to them talk to other people in the room with them. Dude, why did you call me in the first place if you weren't going to talk to me?
10. Parties are best when they involve playing Rook or some other game.
11. I wish I were a better conversationalist. And that I were an Oscar Meyer wiener.
12. Dogs bark. They involve maintenance if you own one. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
13. Cats meow. They have pajamas I've heard. They involve maintenance too, but probably not quite as much as a dog. Not that there's anything wrong with that either.
14. Tomorrow I'm going to be in Fort Smith and might be watching a pilot build.
15. I have low tolerance for cell phones with bad reception.
16. I'm totally terrified of getting a mental illness.
17. I wonder why my blog has so many lurkers.
18. Never in my life have I gone skydiving or bungee jumping.
19. High school was a different phase of my life. I learned some good things, but I'm glad I graduated and wasn't stuck there forever.
20. When I'm nervous I get quiet and intense. Sometimes it's hard to tell that from when I'm being my normal self though.
21. One time at a family gathering I put black olives on all my fingers. Actually, more than one time.
22. Take my advice: Don't stick a table knife in an electrical outlet. Don't put a screwdriver in there either.
23. Making my bed only happens when I change the sheets (which is seldom).
24. I'm almost always cold.
25. I'm addicted to fruit juice.
26. I want someone to volunteer to be the next SWE section president so that I won't have to be it again next year.

Safety First

The CAD guy at work apparently wasn't busy enough last week, so he had time to surf the internet and find this picture. He said it reminded him of me. I take all things he says like that as compliments. ;-) I think the mathematical equation for fun is a good touch. If you need any tips on how to be cool, let me know. I have have lots of them.

Drifting Along With The Tumbling Tumbleweed

A girl at work needed someone to kitty sit for her this week while she was traveling, so I temporarily have a cat (Tumbleweed - Tum/Kitty for short). I've had him for less than 36 hours, and it's already been an interesting time.

Tumbleweed Trap

When I got home this afternoon after leaving him alone for about 6 hours, I couldn't find him anywhere. I was fairly certain I hadn't let him sneak out when I left, but I was starting to question my own sanity. He still hadn't shown his face after I took a nap for an hour or so, so then I had to get really serious about finding him. I eventually found him on top of an air return duct between two floor joists in the basement. I could not figure out how he got up there, and apparently he couldn't figure out how to get down.

Since I rescued him, the only other trouble I've had is that I've had to clean up his puke twice since then. So far the dubious benefit of animal companionship has probably not compensated for this stress in my life. I'm just hoping he survives this week better than the plant that I had for awhile. That would be a total downer to have to tell the girl at work that her cat died while in my custody.

Annual Tax Complaint

I did my taxes today. I think I might have realized this before, but the state I live in really socks the taxes to you. The starting point for calculating my state taxes is the Adjusted Gross Income on my federal tax return. This means that they do not include any federal exemptions you had due to property taxes you paid, interest paid on mortgages, the standard exemption for the number of people you're claiming, and charitable donations if they are not made to certain entities located in this state. In a nutshell, that means they taxed me on a whole lot more income than the federal government did. Whoever wrote the tax code for this state knew what they were doing if they were trying to fill the state's pockets, but it's a raw deal for the taxpayer.

I went back and looked at my old tax records from ND, and from what I could tell their starting point is the Federal Taxable Income, which would be much nicer. Either way they do it, what I don't like is that I still get taxed on the income tax money I pay to the federal government. The states are taxing my taxes.

The software I used also gives a summary of how my federal income tax is spent, and more than 50% of those taxes go towards funding assistance programs like Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Social Services, etc. Fifty percent! In my opinion, that's excessive.

And This Is Why We Do FMEAs

A couple months ago my hot tub went on the fritz. Of course it did it during the coldest part of January, so I had to drain it because I didn't think I could get it repaired in time to prevent damage from all that water freezing. I suspect what may have happened is that the heater shorted, but I don't have much data to support it.

When I went to check on the hot tub that fateful day, I found that it had blown the breaker. So I reset it and then went back outside to see if I could diagnose the reason for the breaker tripping. I ran all the jets for about 30 seconds with no problems, but when I turned them off I could smell something electrically hot. Then I turned the jets back on and went by the control area to sniff around and determine the root cause. After about 20 seconds, I got a fireworks show and the breaker tripped again. When I opened up the control panel, this is what I saw. There was a reason for such big fireworks!


So the moral of this story is: this is why engineers do Failure Modes and Effects Analysis. What happens if the heater shorts? Will it trip the breaker? Start a fire? Electrocute whoever is sitting in the hot tub at the time? Much as I hate doing them, I will admit that sometimes there is a good reason to do one. I just wish doing them wasn't so painful.

Car Update

I believe I promised a car update long ago, but I just kept forgetting to post one. Yes, I have been seriously thinking about getting a car and have even done a little bit of shopping/test driving/research. So far I've visited the Dodge, Jeep, Mazda, GMC, and Toyota dealers. Plus I've looked at the other manufacturer's offerings on the internet. I still plan to visit the Subaru dealership to make sure they don't have something better to offer. And, I may stop by a Ford dealership if I can find one.

However, I'm about 85% sure that I am going to purchase the Mazda6 5-door model. A 5-door is a fancy name for a car that is a hatchback but doesn't look like a hatchback. It has a bit more zip than my current car, but the gas mileage and bike accommodations are still decent. In fact, I believe the bike accommodations will be excellent.

Now I have to do all the nitty gritty details like decide what color I want, what dealership to buy it at, should I take one off the lot or order it with the exact details I want, should I trade in my old car, keep it, or independently sell it, etc. I have to take care of all those details that are a pain in the neck. So while I'm dilly-dallying around with those and in general procrastinating, does anyone have any comments or questions on my choice? If not, please proceed to the exit and have a nice day. Thank you.

Reverse Survey

I've gotten e-mails before where it's one of those reverse survey things. The normal survey has all these questions that you fill out and forward to your friends like:
Coke or Pepsi?
Do you have any tattoos?
Have you ever shared a needle, even once, with someone from Africa since 1978? Wait no, that's what they ask you when you give blood.

Anyway, in a reverse survey someone answers the questions for you and then sends it back to you. I got some very interesting answers on the last question of the reverse survey, so I figured I would see if anybody else had some good ones.

Here's the question:
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring?

Here's the answers I've had so far:

• Your bike (from Melanaway)
  
• Your bible (from Avis a.k.a. Kristin)
  
• Canteen/Camelbak of fresh water (from Megs)
  
• Probably some sort of James Bond super tools that only a brain like you would know exists! (from Tammy)
• A game to play (I think Marsha said this, but I couldn't find the e-mail to confirm this)

Therapy

My psychotherapy is still not going so well, so today we'll talk about my massage therapy instead. :-) For reasons I won't get into here, part of my chiropractic treatment in 2008 has involved getting a massage also (yeah, I know, it's a rough treatment). So anyway, at the start of January I had never had a massage before (yes, I am a total freak of nature). In the space of about 6 weeks, I've probably had five, and I kind of got into a routine and went several times on a Thursday at around the same time every time, so I always got the same massage therapist. Let's call her Therapist B. However, last week I ended up having a conflict with going on Thursday, so I had to go today (Monday) instead. I knew there was a different therapist on staff, so it wasn't a surprise that I got the other therapist today (we'll call her Therapist A).

I knew going in that I might be slightly prejudiced against Therapist A because all my preconceived notions of therapists had already been established by Therapist B (and one Chinese massager who didn't speak English but that doesn't count). So, I tried to keep an open mind and not make any snap judgments when I went there today. My experience today wasn't bad, it was just different. And I know sometimes different is good just like when you eat at Arby's, but I'm still conflicted about it.

I will say that Therapist A's "introduction to massage" bedside manner was better, but the thing is she wasn't playing that nice "nature" CD that Therapist B plays. Her technique was different too, and sometimes she seemed almost tentative. Some things I liked, some things I didn't. It seemed like I didn't feel quite as relaxed at the end of the session today as I have in the past. So anyway....when I had to schedule my next appointment, I requested Thursday to get Therapist B again, but I feel sort of bad about it. Maybe I should give Therapist A another chance? Or, since I like Therapist B well enough, should I just stick with her? What do YOU look for in a massage therapist, or what makes a good one?

New Shoes

Like my socks, my shoes become old friends, and I find it difficult to part with a faithful pair. But unfortunately, I wasn't sure my old pair of shoes could handle all the walking anticipated to occur in China, so I broke the "shoe buy" rule and bought a new pair of shoes right before I went to China. I would have bought a new pair in China maybe, but I figured they probably wouldn't have my size - they barely have my size here in the USA! Plus I hate buying cheap shoes. I like to pay more to get a nice pair that will last for years and feel great every time I put them on.

So anyway, I think these shoes were about 3 years old. They've been to Mexico at least once and probably to almost 10 states in the U.S. I think I had to buy new laces once. The inside lining on the heel was pretty much shot, and on one of the shoes you could see my socks through the gaping opening in the heel where the stitching had ripped out. So I guess it was time to get a new pair. I'm not completely enamored of my new pair. They kind of look like I stole them from the bowling alley, and if the snow is too deep it can seep in the breathing holes on the sides. But, I'm pretty sure they'll continue to grow on me and I'll have a hard time giving them up too. The breathing holes should be good for summer. They were the only ones at least marginally acceptable in my favorite brand and size at the only store at the mall that carried my favorite brand. Now I just have to find a black pair to replace the black shoes I own that are just like my old brown ones. The black pair is even older and starting to rip out in the same spot.....

Speaking of shoes, is it strange that I have almost as many pairs of slippers as I have pairs of shoes? OK, that's not quite true, but pretty close. The ratio of shoes that I wear regularly to the ratio of slippers I own is only 2:1. I never really understood why people wore slippers until I bought the place I live in now. When almost all your floors are not carpeted, slippers sure feel good in the winter! I'm not sure why I think anybody cares about any of this, but I like to show how neurotic I am about keeping old comfortable stuff. Speaking of that, I still have some clothes that I had in high school that I like to wear. I'm slowly having to get rid of those too because they're getting threadbare and starting to get holes in them. That's enough rambling. Hasta la pasta amigos.

My 100 Things

I've seen lots of people do this on their blogs, so I thought I would try it. 100 things about me:
1. I have intimacy and internet security fears and issues, so I don't think I can finish this list. Maybe I'll make the list and then someday share it after I've gotten enough therapy to resolve my issues.
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It's Been Forever (Almost)

Wow, I can't believe my last post was on February 3rd and it's already February 19th. I'm slipping here. Although I do have a partial excuse - first I was getting ready to go to China, and then I was in China for vacation. You won't hear about China today as I need to martial all my thoughts and pictures from the trip.

However, it was a pleasant surprise to come back to work today and see that the secret valentine person in the office struck again. Here's what it looked like this year. It was addressed to Mel from Mary (I don't work with anybody named Mary by the way). Last year it was Barbie, this year it's Hello Kitty.

You Saw It Here First

At work a week or so ago, I had a brilliant idea, and you'll hear about this brilliant invention here first. So hands off my patent! :-) The target audience for this invention is the cowboy who wants to be discrete. What is this invention you ask? Why, it's the USB memory stick drive cleverly disguised in a bolo tie. So when you're dressed up at a fancy function, you won't have to endure any ribbing from your buddies for having one of those newfangled gadgets on your person. The "Tie Drive" will come in sizes of 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB for now. Price varies depending on memory size. Payments can be made in 15 easy installments. See our ad in "Rancher" magazine.

Here's the inspiration of this invention.....

















Here's how discrete you could be....you can't even see that there's a flash drive here....












If this is successful, I'm thinking the next step would be to figure out how to incorporate a memory stick into the traditional business necktie.