Random Thoughts on a Thursday

I am angry with my supervisor, nothing to talk about just put me in a bad mood so I am looking over old notes to crack myself up.

This picture is from when the snow first started, see that odd little path . . . well Big Daddy was babbling about Mr. Slav and his snow removal efforts for the entire block. I thought BD said Mr. Slav got a new snow blower and was trying it out. Nope, he got a new snow SHOVEL and shoveled the entire sidewalk for the block plus a little extra for each house.

I climbed a volcano when I was in Portland, Mt. Tabor. It is dormant and people live on parts of it and it does not have a crater, but still a volcano in a major city is pretty cool. Nothing to see when I got up there as the weather was very overcast. Not being an outdoor gal I thought I did great, and I was the only person in a fur jacket going the route. I left new red Christmas handbag with Big Daddy and he almost got picked up with such a refined accessory, he of course could not remember where I purchased the bag. I would have had pictures but I left the phone in the bag.

This guy started to talking to me at the plant recently and I think he had to build up his courage. His English is not too good. He is Mr. Yugoslavia and he was sad he could not travel to his homeland for Christmas, not enough time. He said he needs 3 weeks for the trip. His old job he used to get 5 weeks vacation and now as a Tier 2 assembly plant worker he gets 1 week and must take it during any plant scheduled shutdown. I of course was very nice to him, I cannot stand people who are not kind to others, but I had to wonder what his old job was.

Well, the first thing to break during the start of the new year was my Oreck vacuum cleaner. It is over 25 years old and has been fixed many a time. This time the handle fell off and I thought for sure it was a goner, but nope-Banks Vacuum is fixing it one more time.

The second thing to break was of course my Comcast service. Now, I can't fault anyone with this frigid weather for a problem but wouldn't you know it, when it was restored my Internet failed again the next day, all the other service was good. So the lady on the phone sent a blip to our monitor and turned it back on and guess what? The phone kinda half ass works. We still get the br instead of the brrring, but now we get a br for every ring instead of just the one initial br. Still won't go to the answering machine though.

I have been checking and our next unscheduled vacation is the end of April and I am thinking Savannah, Georgia. Could be a good thing. I am reading up on the city and I got a tip from our bartender in Jacksonville--he is from Savannah--flying into Jacksonville can be a huge dollar difference and it is only a 2 hour drive. Many people stay at the hotel for early morning/late arrivals. It was a Crowne Plaza and fine as long as you don't eat there. Just don't do it. We turned the car in before we were aware of this. Flight crews stay there, I wonder where and how they eat.

Oh My Goodness

Pictures tomorrow for those of you that love construction sites.

We are at the brand, spanking, new Crowne Plaza. Yea, can you feel my excitement?

I got just a little taste of it all today.

I got to see the toddlers in butt crack pants. I got my hair pulled by the idgits on the plane sitting behind me. I got to see how they hand out China turnpike cards to asshats to stupid to pull along side the booth, they have a basket. This would have been a perfect Kodak moment but Big Daddy was in the back seat questioning his supplier on why, if they really did read their email this morning, they did not do shit all day to fix the problems.

When the manager came up to fix the room and explain things we found out why they do not have a book of hotel services. He actually called a hotel menu book, which they do not have. That is because they do not have many services, including the Beautiful Room. And dammit, that is the one I wanted. He did however fix us up with glasses and an ice bucket.

Going down to dinner soon, if BD ever gets back. He went downstairs to get the Superstar Desk Clerk to send a Chinese email to the dumbass supplier where to pick him up tomorrow. Don't ask, I did and the look I got made me pee my pants.

Rant of the day; If your job is to copy my passport and note the Visa information and entry stamps, do not ask me where to find it. It is in Chinese and you are Chinese and that is your fucking job. The next time I will call a manager and make you lose face.

OK, I am back

There has been some serious dental work going on here. 1 of my three new crowns did not work out. Had my mouth open with nitrous for 2 and a half hours. Dentist actually gave me a prescription for mucho Vicodin. Did not take them but I will tough out the pain when I can. Going back Monday for a check on the bite and Thursday for delivery of the last crown and prep for the implant. This just sucks.

Tickets back to Shanghai for June 8 so I hope this all works out. Trying to pack and decide just what stuff if worth taking. What a pain. And I need to buy underwear. Do not think those skinny, tiny Chinese women can sell me underwear. Nope, not happenen.

Big Daddy is so excited. He found the rest of our balcony furniture and manged to get it to the apartment with only minor excitement on the unloading portion of the trip. He said the apartment helpers and the taxi driver got into it as the unloading of the chairs from the backseat was a little dicey. RMB's all around. He said the apartment guard is actually calling him by name now. The Expo training. Wonder how long this will last after the foreigners go home?

From my contacts I cannot say the new launch at Plant Loco is going well. Cannot say that any auto manufacturing I am hearing about is going well. No bites on jobs for me. I am hopeful my interviews in China are at least informative of the hiring practices.

And Big Daddy is happy with my suggestion to start using known hotels and collecting points. Good experience in Shenzhen at the Crown Plaza. They are clean, helpful and speak much better English that the Chinese hotels. He also has a private driver that he can hire now and not be at the whim of the Chinese suppliers that are pissed at him.

Biggest funny of the day: Big Daddy thinks he needs another manicure.