11/10/09
Is Andy a boy or a girl?
Dalian, China
IN late summer 2007, as my third 12-month teaching visa was about to expire, and my partner, Andy (né Hou Bingnan), had been refused a visa to visit me in the United States for the third time, I had to make a decision: New York or Andy. My choice ultimately led me to the task of creating an American-style home in China, little knowing what such a project would entail.
That fall, I went back to New York and sold my apartment. When I returned to China, Andy and I set out to find an apartment in Dalian — a northeastern city where we had been living for three years — that would serve as a home and a place to tutor students: I teach conversational English to Chinese students, and Andy teaches Chinese to foreigners.
After a month of intense shopping, we found a 2,000-square-foot apartment on the second floor of a 10-story condo. The main attraction was a cavernous room (17 by 57 feet) that we could turn into an open living and kitchen space. There were also four bedrooms, two windowless bathrooms and a dark interior room nestled between the bedrooms.
Outside, there were three-foot-deep terraces with no access from the apartment. Inside was raw space: a concrete bunker with exposed heating and water pipes and dangling electrical wires.
For the neighborhood and the quality of the building, $300,000 seemed reasonable. And having undertaken a number of renovation projects, I was confident that I could do the plans and elevations myself, particularly since building codes and condo board restrictions are minimal here.
Prices of goods and labor, though, can vary wildly. Everything is negotiable, but to bargain effectively, one must have guanxi, or connections, a force useful in the West but exponentially more powerful here. So we accepted an offer from Andy’s father, a man with considerable guanxi, to bring workers and materials from his hometown, Huludao, about a five-hour drive away.
A week later, a flatbed truck arrived bearing wallboard, plywood, bags of cement, nails and screws, followed by eight laborers with tools and bed rolls. For the next three weeks, the crew worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week, sleeping on pallets on the floor. They also brought cards and mah-jongg sets and built tables from scrap plywood, exchanging their wages every evening in gambling games. Hou Wenkui, Andy's father, served as watchdog and cooked meals on portable gas rings.
As the only member of the team who spoke English and Chinese, Andy was the go-between for me and the crew, a migraine-inducing task.
Before building out, we did some demolition, and created doorways to the terraces. That was the easy part. Then the construction began.
As we boxed the heat and water risers and horizontal ceiling ducts, and dropped the ceiling to 9 1/2 feet, I drew in recessed lights. That started the first battle with the crew.
They were accustomed to the Chinese taste for rococo, and Zhang, the wallboard specialist, wanted to show off his expertise at fashioning tiers of lightning-bolt zigzags and undulating dragons across the ceilings. I wanted clean, straight lines.
Wang, the chief carpenter, was disappointed when I rejected his offer to build a fake mantel and fireplace in the living room to serve as a pedestal for the flat-screen TV and a cabinet for the cable box and DVD player. And they were all astonished when I told them my plan to put the TV in the master bedroom, recessed into a closet wall. (In middle-class China, the TV is the centerpiece of the home — as in American houses of the 1950s.)
On some projects, they applied their skills without asking, and we were happy with the results. When Li installed the floor tiles in the bathrooms, for example, he carefully laid them so that there was an imperceptible slope down to the drains, ensuring that water wouldn’t accumulate.
Other efforts were less successful, but all had more or less happy endings. When Hsia, the electrical specialist, hooked up the transformer I had brought from the United States for connecting the American-made 110-volt range and dishwasher, he got some wires crossed and blew out the electronic control panel on the range. The replacement panel was intercepted by the local police, who refused to give it to us at first. When I saw it, I was grateful for their protectiveness: it looked just like the bomb-detonation timers you see in American movies about terrorism.
The total cost of the project, once everything was added up — materials, labor, furniture, fixtures and appliances — was about $60,000. But the final chapter of the construction story didn’t occur until several weeks after we had moved in.
One morning, I found a letter to Andy in the mailbox, handwritten in Chinese. It said, in effect, “We are a large gang of dangerous men. We know you are rich” — we are not — “and unless you give us 10,000 yuan” — about $1,500 — “we will kidnap you and torture you and then ask for an even larger sum. If you pay, we will leave you alone.”
From the details the writer had provided about us and our belongings, it wasn’t hard to figure out that the “gang” members were among the local laborers who had been in the apartment during the post-construction decorating process.
In the family powwow that followed, I argued that if we conceded, they would be back for more. Andy’s parents thought it wasn’t worth the risk and insisted that Chinese criminals are usually men of their word. So we paid.
A week later I found a nicely worded thank-you note in the mailbox. So far, we have heard nothing more from our extortionists.
Is Andy a boy or a girl as in the actress Andie McDowell or Opie's dad, Andy Williams?
The article gives no hint and neither does the photo.
I love the gays!!
NYT SOURCE
question
What is the common thread between the Count of Monte Cristo and Dr Wu?
NO GOOGLING lame ass!
Find out tomorrow.
Michelle Obama Interview
INTERVIEWED BY KATIE COURIC for the December issue of Glamour magazine, Mrs. Obama gives advice to a young professional seeking a man: 'Cute's good. But cute only lasts for so long, and then it's, Who are you as a person? That's the advice I would give to women: Don't look at the bankbook or the title. Look at the heart. Look at the soul. Look at how the guy treats his mother and what he says about women. How he acts with children he doesn't know.
And, more important, how does he treat you? When you're dating a man, you should always feel good. You should never feel less than. You should never doubt yourself. You shouldn't be in a relationship with somebody who doesn't make you completely happy and make you feel whole. And if you're in that relationship and you're dating, then my advice is, don't get married.'
And, more important, how does he treat you? When you're dating a man, you should always feel good. You should never feel less than. You should never doubt yourself. You shouldn't be in a relationship with somebody who doesn't make you completely happy and make you feel whole. And if you're in that relationship and you're dating, then my advice is, don't get married.'
More HERE
11/9/09
Fiorina Battles Breast Cancer
Oh and she's running for Barbara Boxer's Senate seat. Yeah right. Fiorina is far more likely to win the cancer battle than the Boxer rebellion. That Carley she's just another wingnut.
Ms. Fiorina, who said she had recently recovered from a battle with breast cancer, quickly went on the attack, accusing Ms. Boxer of being too distracted by writing fiction (the senator has had two novels published) to concentrate on matters of state.
“Sometimes I wonder whether California has two U.S. senators,” Ms. Fiorina said. “There’s Dianne Feinstein, and then there’s ‘What’s-her-name.’ ”
Ms. Boxer, who has been in office 17 years, will not be Ms. Fiorina’s first opponent. A Republican primary is scheduled for June, and on Wednesday, some national Republicans had already taken sides. The Senate Conservatives Fund, led by Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, said it would back State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in the primary instead.
More HERE
Big Bird , the NYT and Qs
The NYT is openly encouraging readers to submit questions for Big Bird, a fictional character. Here are some of the most thought provoking Qs. From kids, right?1. how tall are you and i have been wondering are you gay, and what size shoe do you wear?
2. what do you like better: Ballet or Hip Hop and why?
3. is big bird a boy or a girl?
4. Do you know of any bigger birds? If not, what’s the next biggest?
If you're really enticed. There's more HERE
11/8/09
Steve Jobs CEO of the decade
Lovely, Mr. "I will pay anything/go anywhere for a liver" Jobs has won Fortune magazine's coveted title of CEO of the 2000s. Hey, once he clawed his way to the top of the transplant list being crowned CEO of the decade was trivial.
I wonder how many potential liver recipients he stepped on or over to stay alive just so he could receive this omnipotent title.
I could go on ranting, but I leave that to you my darling readers.
Read about the liver stealer's inglorious rise HERE
Previous posts HERE and HERE
RANT RANT RANT RANT . . . .
11/7/09
Stud Muffin Chef
TWICE a month, President Obama’s senior policy advisers gather at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to hash out strategies for improving the health of the country’s children. Among the assistant secretaries, chiefs of staff and senior aides sits an unlikely participant: a bald, intense young man who happens to be the newest White House chef.
His name is Sam Kass. And when he’s not grilling fish for the first family or tending tomatillos in the White House garden, he is pondering the details of child nutrition legislation, funding streams for the school lunch program and the best tactics to fight childhood obesity.
Part chef and part policy wonk, he is reinventing the role of official gastronome in the Executive Mansion.
How cool is this guy? A policy wonk, a hunk and he knows how to cook. How do I get me one of these? Dave can hardly find a spoon in our kitchen. He firmly believes that protracted unfamiliarity is the key to his success at avoiding the kitchen for the last 20 years.
More HERE
His name is Sam Kass. And when he’s not grilling fish for the first family or tending tomatillos in the White House garden, he is pondering the details of child nutrition legislation, funding streams for the school lunch program and the best tactics to fight childhood obesity.
Part chef and part policy wonk, he is reinventing the role of official gastronome in the Executive Mansion.
How cool is this guy? A policy wonk, a hunk and he knows how to cook. How do I get me one of these? Dave can hardly find a spoon in our kitchen. He firmly believes that protracted unfamiliarity is the key to his success at avoiding the kitchen for the last 20 years.
More HERE
dressing like a grownup
So interesting how the web is becoming more and more like TV minus all the annoying commercials. I know, I know, there is advertising on the web, but in most instances it's before or after not during. I call it WEB WATCHING. So original.
Episode 1: Denim
Charger Mat
Imagine coming home and dropping your keys, wallet, BlackBerry and iPod onto a hallway table. Then, when you're ready to leave the house again, your electronic gizmos are fully charged, without ever having been plugged in.
Consumers tired of snarls of power cords and misplaced chargers are turning to electronic mats, which go by names like Powermat and myGrid, that can recharge multiple cellphones, GPS devices and other gadgets at the same time. Although the mat itself is plugged into an electric socket, individual gadgets can simply be placed on top of the mat to draw electricity wirelessly. And unlike some older power packs, the mats can sense when the battery is full and stops sending charges.
As a Type "A" Virgo anal retentive neat freak, this thing gets me really excited.
More HERE
11/6/09
On the subject of any sort of disclosure
A book review by Bay Area Tendrils"A beautifully produced, richly illustrated National Geographic Society book has arrived for review. Author, Catherine Herbert Howell writes engagingly, drawing the reader into the fascinating world of plants that have influenced every aspect of our existence from prehistory to the present-day.
Sweet figs and dates to aromatic herbs and tangy citrus, the grains, grapes, sugarcane and coffee that nourish the body, to sumptuous flowers that feed the soul, mind-altering opium poppies, and medicinal discoveries: Flora Mirabilis draws attention to more than two dozen plants in a journey through time.
Cultural myths are illuminated, and adventurous explorers come to the fore, to reveal historical, social, and scientific advances. Drawn from the archives of the Missouri Botanical Garden Library, the book's magnificent botanical images will be savored by garden, art and nature lovers."
Bay Area Tendrils responds to my anonymous comment
"Postscript - I received the following comment:
"I'm a little fuzzy about the phrase "arrived for review". Does it mean that you received compensation in the form of a free book in exchange for an unbiased review. If so, you should clearly disclose this information."
If my phrasing is unclear, then I hasten to add, I was given a copy of the book. It merited a recommendation, and so I chose to review it."
My take
Yes, Alice your phrasing was not only unclear, but clearly misleading and unnecessarily pretentious. What was it that you hastened to add? I'm still unclear about how you came to possess this book. Did you receive as a gift from a friend or did Random House or Nat Geo send it to you for review?
Did you take it upon yourself to review the book or did the publisher formally ask for your unbiased opinion in the form of a blog post?
Inquiring minds want to know.
If you had just restrained yourself and omitted the uppity catch phrase "arrived for review" all would be well in the blogosphere. Instead the reader is left wondering about your, umm, blog cred.
Krakow remodel
DETAILS
What: Duplex Apartment
What size: 1400 square feet/2 bedrooms/2.5 baths
Where: Krakow, Poland
How much: 478K
Property Taxes: $30 a year (could this be a typo?)
More HERE
Tearful Goodbyes
DICKINSON, N.D. - Teammates and family members threw roses and softballs Wednesday into the farm pond where three North Dakota college softball players were found dead inside their sunken sport utility vehicle.But there were few answers to their most troublesome questions: How did the women find themselves trapped in the water? How long did they suffer after frantically calling friends for help?
The women were believed to be on a stargazing trip Sunday night and authorities said they likely drove straight into the water in the dark. The pond is surrounded by high grass and shrubs off a narrow gravel road in a pasture north of Dickinson.
and then this from the grieving parents, DUH really?
The Gemars said they hoped the women's deaths would remind people the importance of knowing their surroundings and letting others know where they are. In the meantime, Lenny Gemar said he knows where he daughter is now.
Article HERE
Q&A with Bill Maher
Q: William Donahue of the Catholic League mentioned your show this week in relation to Larry David peeing on Jesus on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. He threw in that "Sarah Silverman insulted Catholics on Real Time with Bill Maher." He mentions you a lot, called you "America's #1 Bigot" and so forth. Are you paying him for this publicity? Why does he have such a hard-on for you?A: 'Cause he's Catholic. Catholics think I have a special animus against them, whereas I'm an equal opportunity offender. I think Catholicism is stupid and dangerous; I think all religion is stupid and dangerous. I was raised Catholic so I know more about that...
The Catholic League is always trying to get me off thrown of the air, Donohue wanted to fight me in a parking lot because, you know, that's how Jesus would handle it. And they want to believe I have some personal vendetta against Catholicism. But I wasn't abused or molested -- by which I'm slightly offended because I was a cute kid, I don't know how they they overlooked me.
It would not be unheard of for someone who was raised Catholic to have a grudge, and I know many people who do, but I don't. I didn't particularly like being Catholic, but they didn't do anything awful to me. But some people have had awful things done to them... to call me a bigot, that implies prejudice. But I'm not prejudging, I'm judging. And there is plenty to judge.
More HERE
sarahpalinerotica.com
Sarah Palin porn. No pictures. Just words by from some very imaginative writers. Does the name Sarah Palin ring an erotic bell? Read on kiddies.
She rarely knows what city she’s in and she likes that sense that she’s really nowhere at all. When Todd is fucking her, and her thighs are pressed against his hips, and her hands are tearing at the skin on his back he’ll say, “I’m fucking the next president of the United States.”
She’ll stop moving her hips for a moment, breathing loudly and look up at him in the darkness. “Yes,” she’ll say. “Yes, you are.” And he’ll groan, loudly, shamelessly, burying his head against her shoulder as he comes. Because it turns him on too, that everywhere he goes, everyone knows that he’s the man who gets to fuck the next president of the United States. He’s got it made. Afterward, as he’s falling asleep and Sarah is sitting against the headboard, refreshing her memory about the party line or reviewing the next day’s itinerary, he’ll murmur, “This is some fucking country.” Sarah will pat Todd’s bare chest. “Go to sleep,” she’ll say.
More HERE
She rarely knows what city she’s in and she likes that sense that she’s really nowhere at all. When Todd is fucking her, and her thighs are pressed against his hips, and her hands are tearing at the skin on his back he’ll say, “I’m fucking the next president of the United States.”
She’ll stop moving her hips for a moment, breathing loudly and look up at him in the darkness. “Yes,” she’ll say. “Yes, you are.” And he’ll groan, loudly, shamelessly, burying his head against her shoulder as he comes. Because it turns him on too, that everywhere he goes, everyone knows that he’s the man who gets to fuck the next president of the United States. He’s got it made. Afterward, as he’s falling asleep and Sarah is sitting against the headboard, refreshing her memory about the party line or reviewing the next day’s itinerary, he’ll murmur, “This is some fucking country.” Sarah will pat Todd’s bare chest. “Go to sleep,” she’ll say.
More HERE
11/5/09
Kerik update
Bernie "homeland security" Kerik finds Jesus and pleads guilty.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to the White House and said he would also admit to tax crimes.
The plea bargain, which included an anticipated eight charges, included the prosecution's suggestion that the crimes are punishable by 27 to 33 months in prison. It was designed to resolve three pending federal criminal trials.
Kerik, who was police commissioner when New York was attacked on 9/11, won glowing reviews for his leadership. He eventually was nominated for the Homeland Security post in 2004 but withdrew as corruption allegations mounted. The lies to the White House occurred during that vetting process.
The first of his trials had been scheduled to start Monday in White Plains.
(Judge) Robinson warned Kerik that the maximum sentence for the counts to which he was pleading was 61 years in prison; the judge said he was not bound by the terms of the plea agreement.
Uh huh. Sure. I'll bet the ranch that he will get a minuscule fraction of what he deserves. At this point, I would call him a fucking criminal. Doesn't appear that he's quite as stupid as I thought. Hey, I admit when I'm wrong.
More HERE
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