Commuters Quandary

So, I just had my everyday Beijing taxi ride to work, which was the normal 35 minutes listening to awful Chinese talk radio in a smelly car where a man has clearly slept all night whilst smoking 4 packs of cigs and drinking a bucket of coffee. But this morning a ray of light zapped through the radio waves as we exited the Badaling Expressway. SOMEHOW, unknown to me, a miracle happened. Journey came on the radio - Don't Stop Believin'. I gasped with delight. And then..... after I was just getting into it... the man TURNS it back to talk radio. Can you believe the nerve?! I gave him a tense lecture on the merits of enjoying Steve Perry on the way to work. He should be so lucky as to have such a great song on his radio this early in the morning.

I don't think he got it, but I felt better about letting him know my stance.

Week 3 of the Dumpling report

The last few weeks have been full of observations and I've been trying to keep running track so I could update you ... below are just a few:

• The only person with a bike helmet in all of Beijing seems to be the McD's bike delivery guy.
• The first words a non English speaking person would learn upon arrival in the States are 'like' and 'yeah.' I know this for sure because the most common sounds I hear are 'jegah jegah' and 'doi doi doi', meaning 'like' and 'sure, whatevs'. So my vocab constants of only basic fillers and pleasantries right now. Not really cutting it. Also, accent placement is everything - the same letter combo with different emphasis can mean ear, #2, or you're stupid.
• It is apparently bad form to eat a fish before seeing it brought to the table alive in a bucket for your inspection. If that fish looks like more than your group could eat or is not looking chipper, you send it back to suffer a bit longer and ask to see one of his buddies. Brutal.
• I am super tall here. A good example would be that I saw the changing of the guard at Tiananmen Square from 6 rows back. Amazing!
• One should have full faith in the meteorologist report here. I mean, they can MAKE it snow.
• The Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2008 were apparently the most amazing events to ever occur. They can be found playing on the government TV channel at any point of the day, as well as on large screens in public squares.
• If you think about it, the empress selection process is not too far off from the modern day hit 'The Bachelor.'
• A person should never watch Locked Up Abroad while living in a strange land. Never.

I have seen SO many really impressive things (they've got this really big wall here) and have tried an assortment of new foods (jellyfish is not my favorite). And next weekend I am travelling to Xi'an to eat these amazing dumplings in shapes like flowers and goldfish and turkeys... Oh yeah, and seem some warriors. Will be good!

I've already seen Friday, America. It looks good.

Yay! This posting from my office here in Beijing is going to work. No more mass emails. Well, it might be a bit bumpy though since all buttons and directions are in Mandarin. I'll just wing it.

Driving Cross Country with Doyle

1.1.09 Driving Cross Country

Kevin Ritchie's 8th Scavenger Extravaganza

Snowy Vacation to CO

I am just back from Colorado snowboarding trip. Day 1 & 2 I spent solo riding at Keystone and had a blast. Day 3- caught a matinee of Juno and made my way to Steamboat Springs with Josh and Lisa. Day 4- Got served. :) Spent the day with expert skiers and really pushed the limits. Muscles I didn't know I had are sore. But it was AMAZING.

Now I am home and have the back-to-work blues. All the batteries on all my toys are dead and I think I am personally out of energy, too. Fab time. Going back ASAP.

Apparently You Can't Pick Ur Talents.

So of all things to be talented at... why is mine flip cup? I mean really. Some folks cure diseases, others paint masterpieces... I take a cup from sitting on its proper bottom and flip it to land on its head.