Hello Mr. Pig or I have the Shanglows

Left the apartment at 6am for a flight to Tai Zhou. Thank goodness it was a Boeing. China Eastern and about 40 minutes, just enough time to pass out water. Went to pee at the filthiest airport I have ever seen and they had the squat pot. Hole in the floor with foot rests. I don't think so.

On the ride to town saw rickshaws, three wheel cars, taxi's to small for me to ride in and a gutted pig all dressed and ready for a party (party favors next to pig) on a tiny cute little flatbed truck. With fireworks loaded in front. And of course once again no pictures.

Thursday: Had to quit blogging yesterday what with the meltdown and all. This is kinda stressful.

Today I broke the toilet, broke the closet door and got a 2 dollar manicure all in a five star hotel. Also got a beef hamburger and a bottle of wine from room service. They stressed the BEEF hamburger and I stressed the wine.

Tai Zhou is supposedly the biggest tooling area in the world. You see alot of foreign business men (that is us) holding their heads and looking very frustrated and tense. Big Daddy says you have to have a lot of patience here, they say yes just so you will shut up. And according to the China Daily they executed a financial guy for embezzeling just under 10 million US. Bernie got off light.

Nothing is easy here. Internet sucks, no one speaks English even in an International hotel, they pretend they understand and don't have a clue. Ordering room service took 10 minutes of talking and 2 trips. Manicure took 2 phone calls and was not very good in the end. I am hoping my fingers don't fall off.

Funny of the day:

In Shanghai they are all busy getting ready for Expo, there is bamboo scaffolding on the streets strapped together 4 stories tall with wires hanging over the sidewalks, we 4 times walked by a guy taking down a brick interior building with a sledgehammer-and I mean walked within 3 feet of him- shit flying all over the place. No dust masks, nothing. The hotel we are in today does not change your towels every day unless you request it-to help the environment. WTF. They also hang their clothes outside the windows to dry on bamboo poles. In the rain. Gotta love it. And I promise soon to get pictures. Seeing is believing.

In My Flawed Opinion

Why is everyone but you wrong, bad, and a thief.

At what point did Bernie Madoff's victims think they where so much smarter than everyone else and that the returns they were realizing might not be unusual?

At what point did all the people buying expensive houses with 10% down on an ARM not think this may not work out.

At what point do people ignore the fact that they cannot raise a family when their income is from a job at a fast food joint.

And ta-da, the icing on that cupcake-

My most recent favorite "blog comment" NOLA.com on a shooting of 7 people at what they call a "repast"- the following is in my words-It is not uncommon for killers to show up at the funerals or repast to make sure the person is dead. Now OK, I can understand showing up at a funeral to make sure the dead is still in the coffin a day or two later, but at the meal after the funeral? Which apparently is what a repast is although no one on NOLA.com claims any knowledge of "what the fuck a repast is".

So it must be OK to be lacking in responsibility, financial knowledge, and common sense.

But don't miss the church lady cake at the repast while you are looking for the dead guy.