The day ending 00:00, August 24, 2007.

Finally, a day I didn't spend in the oven known as 5103.  I was relieved to be back at my desk with the proper height desk and good air conditioning.. and space away from colleagues...

Started the day going over some material for my upcoming project, made a nice, strong coffee...
lunch at the office while trying to take care of ish -- got an ayi interview set up for tomorrow at 10:00, sorted out the status of my long-awaited credit card, and got my facebooking in.
Self-study (then a whopping 24/25 on my client's pre-project test) followed in the afternoon, along with a dab of trouble, which was  sorted out relatively quickly.

At home, a long chat, followed by a late dinner (10:20 or so) at HeWei (womei) on Julu lu at maoming lu.  Rowdy crowd of Shanghainese on the next table, and a huge rowdy group of international students (?) upstairs... including french fries, bratwursts, and hamburgers.

99RMB per head, all you can eat mediocre+ japanese food... not too bad, I think.  A feed of the cats, a brush of the teeth, a plop into bed.  Waters of March. 

The day ending 2400, Thursday, 23rd August, 2007.

Work nice 'n' early to get the audit room door open for everyone  -  brought the key home with me last night... durrr.
bored out of my mind although I was trying not to be... and trying to stay up...
lunch with Cat at the noodle shop on Huaihai Lu
Waited for ages for a cab (-_-;)
back to office, txted her on way, talked for a tad on gchat, got caught on it - AGAIN... ==_==;;; 
talk w/ two mgrs about my problem(s)... (yikes)
back to work for a bit
down to 50f for other work after 6:15pm or so... installed LN 6.5.4, chatted with buddy (one of the chat mgrs... hee) and felt a hair better.
Was asked to join Josephine for dinner with her friend who's in town, who she said is a meinv.  Sw33t - I should have gone for it!

Would have started When Harry Met Sally about an hour+ after I got home (after cat's skype call), but chatted instead
ordered Moon River, chatted, but brought the tuna melt on white... not offering wheat or alternatives on the phone. :anger:
theeeen some uglydoll time, a pillow gift, and now it's now!   

Stanford GSB tea time planned for Sat.with Smorne.  Interested to see what those guys are like!

The day ending 2400, Wednesday, 22nd August, 2007.

I've been meaning to give Baby Girl a bath for the longest time, and I... still haven't.
What was yesterday, besides another day I was supposed to give her one?

Work on the 51/F again... fairly early for me boss' sake, nothing mentionable for now because I can't remember anything... McChicken and wings at MCD for lunch (900 cals or so), where I saw a girl spill her drink so that it missed her mom by mere millimeters... music over lunch... boring arse work... caught typing one quick msg to cat at 5:35 when I was going down to my normal desk... told off for it... -_-;
Down to the regular office bit before I rode back home on my bike, with Aaron's bike in my right hand... which I still haven't paid him for!  Felt at the time like I sprained my wrist, but I don't think I did.

Straight from home to dinner at Des Lys with Simone and Evan -- his last night in Shanghai... WEEP
It was a FIRE-filled dinner, with matches flying left, right and sideways... it was a pretty mellow night by our standards tho - some quiet dinner (+ matches), lamb stew for me, salads for cat and simone, french onion soup for cat, and a beef dish (IIRC) for Evan.. then 3 desserts (Creme Brulee, Chocolat FONDON, and my fave of the three last night - cheesecake!)

Took a couple of photos before calling it a night... will be posted up at some point.

Smorne cabbed home, while Cat, Evan and I - all three of us - mopedded all the way to dagu lu to make a last dvd run for evan!!  It was an AWESOME ride, and we got some really nice photo and video footage.   Post it up, evan!

Spent an hour or so there and picked up america's got talent, a CD, and I think some DVD.. don't remember... before finally parting ways with Evan!  Aww, weeeep... byeeee - SH will not be the same without you!!  (Sad... that brings the tally of goners to: Vince, Ben, Olivia, Wei, Jesse, Aaron, Evan, and Jo's next... cry!)

Wow, I missed a day!!  (Sounds like I'm on the pill or something... which if you saw recent photos on facebook, you might actually believe. )
Yesterday night (Monday, August 20, 2007) was:
Sort of a crappy day as far as days go... with some relief during lunch hour thanks to Evan, a very tedious afternoon without my supervisor (took the arvo off sick), and then an extended relief after work thanks to two of my bosses and my department head... and not a little bit of wine (red and dessert muscat - my new weakness) as well!

Element freshed lunch (those coopers teriyaki salads are bad-day killers) and Enoteca (which just means "wine cellar" in Spanish) with the boss (es, later,) for drinks and tapas - started out with two glasses of cabernet sauvignon, a glass of muscat something or other, then just as we were getting ready to leave, the other arrived, and we shared a bottle of merlot (?), which was followed by another glass of the muscat dessert wine.  mmmmmm, that helped - at least for 5 1/2 hours - clean my slate of basically any other worries.

Learned a lot about my boss, including stuff re: relationships, career, hobbies (cars), friends, family... lots of stuff talked about, and now to think about.

I found the CS sweet and easy to palate.  from what I remember it was quite light, and just the slightest bit fruity and tangy.  I think there was more there, but those were my strongest impressions.
The merlot (?) was a little simpler, with more of a "traditional" wine taste (doesn't my language reflect the deep and rootious passion and fanaticism that I hold for wines?  har har).  I'd say it was bolder or heavier than the CS, but not by any means deep in itself (or on an absolute scale.)   One boss described it as simple or basic, and I'd agree.

Being the first time I've ever had a whole glass (they poured us red wine glass portions) of dessert  wine, I don't have anything to compare it to... it was, to me, very sweet, but pleasantly so.  Like my boss said, it could (in some cases) take the place of a solid food dessert after a meal!

Anyway, once I left the "cellar", the rest of life's realities hit me almost immediately, but I still think I left less bothered by them.  All in all, a 5.5 hours well spent.  (The opportunity cost was deep in the negative...!!)

So.  Today.
Lightly berated for my tardiness... :/  Not the first time that's happened in life or work... then to the grind.  When I was out making my chai masala, a boss stopped by the audit room and, upon my return, wrapped up the conversation to request my presence in their office.  Turns out, as I expected, it was a few comments about a relatively heated debate the previous night between the bosses.   It was a very awkwardly silent walk down the length of the office corridor to their room, but it was all perfectly fine inside.
Despite the debate, seeing the conduct of these two bosses actually makes me feel better about my employer.  There was respect and openness, and honesty - at least between these bosses and in this case.

Lunched at Ninsei Itoya with Evan and Cat (the former was closed for renovations), where I had the best Japanese ramen I've had so far in this town.  Wow.  It was good.  (I like their iced coffee, too!)  Lots of (good) chashu and good soup and good noodles... mmm.
Struggled through the arvo, but not as bad as yesterday... got an hour "off" in the morning too, to do some mindless grunt work -- in English.  What a relief!!

Anyway, a very brief chat with the other boss before leaving work, then home in a rush to head out to Gang Hui (Grand Gateway) to watch the latest installation of none other than... H....ERMIONE GRANGER!! ... Just kidding.  Obviously, I meant Harry Potter.  I <3 the HP septology!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Cat, for suggesting it.   It totally made my night.  That's two good nights in a row!   I'm on a roll this week.
since we had to wait almost 2 hrs for the show, we ate... KOREAN.  Yum... all that Ksoap is making us crave Kfood!
A coffee and medium popcorn purchase later, we were in the theater watching ads, when the HP intro suddenly popped up... how random!!  no credits, no nothing... the HP logo and title appeared, then it just started!   If this is normal in China, you will forgive me, as it's my first theatre movie here. x)

So... in less happy news, Evan leaves on Thursday, so my good evenings may not roll on much longer.   It's been a great summer, man -- I hope to see you again soon!
We swung by his place to pick up my geetar and our DVDs, before heading home to this.  Oh - swiped my card in the cab, but it went "negative"... Cat and I are debating whether it took off the 6rmb I didn't have (making my card balance negative), or if it only took off what I did have, and the 6rmb cash I paid the cabby was legit.  I say the 6 bux I paid was legitimately owed... she says otherwise.  Bets?  (On the subway and busses, the card does go into negative territory, just as it does in HK.)

I let Baby Girl (aka Amnio) into my room for a few hours tonight - she's been cooped up in that balcony for so long, I don't think it's healthy!!  When I go to sleep though, I'll re-seal her.   Poor thing - I hope the ringworm  (fungus) dies out completely soon!

finally up at around 11:30, went to lunch (late) at the Westin brunch around 12:35 or so, where I met a few family friends from Shanghai, the US, and Mexico (!) -- there were two families (from the same extended family) from mexico, and a couple of their kids, all of whom were very nice.  Evan and Enoch were there, too, as was Franko (sp?) who is Deb's dad, and works with the Westin.

Waited at the Westin with Simone, Cat and Josh for Evan to make it home, change, and make it back out with his shirt receipts so we could pick them up.
Evan got to the fabric market before we did, and we consequentially just went to pick him up. (I jumped out and got in a new cab with him because our original one wouldn't take 5... grrr)

Headed out to Wujiang Lu for Yang's fried dumplings (shengjianbao) and wanglaoji, before walking down to dagu lu to buy DVDs... for our foot massage!!  Which I enjoyed very thoroughly.  My masseuse was STRONGGGGG and worked a lot on my shoulders and neck, which she said were tense - that's a very rare response from massuses that work on me!  Anyway, she went on to the feet, and, for the first time ever, it actually hurt when she pressed them!  I think I didn't ask previous masseuses to press hard enough.

Anyway, ate din of noodles and a bite of pineapple bun there (which didn't look at all like pineapple bun), headed back to Movie Star (AKA better than movie world), then had some confusion before getting into cabs to head back.  I went to drop off evan then chill with Simone, while Cat and Josh went off to chill elsewhere.  (Thanks, Simone, for the great chat. )

From there, it was out to wander a little bit, stopping by the quik-e-mart, then home, to chat with D and write this little log up!

And now... it's time for bed.  Good night, internet!
Wish me sweet dreams...

Happy birthday (again), Simone.   You rock!

Woke up bright and early today... 8:30am!  (it's now 5:30am... that's 21 hours - a record since I've been in SH, I think!)
Out to Hongqiao for a morning appointment, then to the former home of Cafe Du Monde in hopes of coffee and beignets, to much disappointment, as my choice of tense may have belied.  CDM have now moved... to pudong.
Anyway, Lynn it was, then, for 68rmb all-you-can-eat dimsum.  However, that could only happen at 11:30, when they open, so Cat and I spent about 20 minutes in the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf next door, "da dai"-ing on a shared coffe and scone.
Enter: Evan.  11:30am.  The second (first?) customers in there, we were all shocked by the decor.  When the food finally arrived, we were also surprised by the fantastic value for money.  But for 68RMB, we're talking about medium/fair quality.  (Though Ye Shanghai is 30rmb more expensive, I'd say the quality is measurably/significantly higher, at least for a few of the dishes.) 
Selection at Lynn was also a little thin... thankfully, that was all made-up for by the elegant interior and big-eye-candy-boobs that was present.   hehe...
Next up was work for Cat, and Qipu Lu for Evan and I.  I ended up buying a watch there, while Evan picked up two pairs of shoes.
From there, we headed over to Jiuguang so I could look for Smorne's bday present, which I eventually found at PINK - a nice (I think) Polo shirt that I sort of wish they made for men, too.   No worry, I picked up a pair of cuff-links there, so I was a happy camper.
(Quick advert - PINK is having a huge sale right now... 45% off 3/4 of their ties, many of their shirts, and maybe 1/3 of their accessories!!)
From there, I walked home and Evan cabbed home.
Fed the cats and started my daily internet fix, then Cat got back about an hour or two later...
Dinner/Bling prep began shortly thereafter, and we were out the door by 7:45 for Da Marco's for some fine Italian dining. 
Lots of food... desserts... b'day cake... all for 150/head!  after that, we had a brief present-opening ceremony before jumping into 3 cabs to head over to Bling, where we all caught our second winds...
15/20 with 4 players, lots of *Beef-52s* and vodka shots (on top of the vodka cranberries and whisky green tea), dancing, drinking, dancing, dancing, lap dancing, a lost camera (boo!!), and new friends (yay!!)... all made for a very, very memorable night.  Thank you thank you thank you, Simone, and of course many thanks for all the help from Darrell, too.  I had a very interesting, good, memorable, bad, _everything_ night.

OK.  So, goodbyes, hugs, cabs, homes... and on my side, cat feeding, face cleaning, tooth brushing, toilet flushing, facebook whoring, xanga posting, bedding my tired butt.

ps- soooooooo many photos last night!!!!

Tired as an Impala after being chased across the savanna by a hungry pack of Cheethas....
Just got home from Volar just outside of Fuxing (my favourite road) park... where we celebrated the entrance of Smorne into her quarter century.  Oh my oh my oh my... how old we are!!
So since I've had a few drinks, I'm going to go backwards today.

9. Cat passed out on couch.  Hee hee...
8. Volar (drinks, photos, "dancing") with Simone, Cat, Evan, Josh, Darrel, Tracy, Denise, Chris, Jared/J-something and many others.
7. Dinner with William - my nephew (who's older than me) - Cat, Simone, Evan, Josh at New Heights... good food, but not great.  Reasonable, I guess, for the price.  (He bought dinner... wtf?!  and offered for us to meet his family and dog. )
6. Home to drop off stuff
5. Drinks at the Portman Ritz Carlton with William (first time I met him in 10 years!) - talked about tons... I'm glad he's a cool guy. B-)
4. Work on 51/F
3. Lunch with Evan at City Diner... the City burger was farken good!!
2. Work on 51/F
1. Got up and was frackin' arse tired...

10. Xangaing
11. Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepers.

Work
Lunch
Work
Overtime
Took photos from the office window
Drank coffee at my desk and went on facebook
Edited english document on outsourcing
Came home
Dinnered on Indian (yum) and amino suppli
Heroesed
Chat viss Chat
Feed les chats
Now
Sleep

Got "pep talk" today for not doing my last piece of work very well... or very quickly... xp  Made me feel like I was in Highschool all over again - sitting in Mr. Walker's office discussing my accademic (non-)performance. :/  Not a fond memory.
Anyway, Cat was out at a commercial shoot all day!!  We don't yet know if she'll actually be featured, but how cool if she did, ey?    It was actually more of an infomercial for an 8 mega-pixel camera phone, hosted by the MTV (asia) VJ, Daniel Wu (daniel woo?... the wu man...) anyway, sounded like fun compared to my day in the office.

Lunched with Joicy/Nikkie/Siew Peng/Josephine/Chong Kiat at Malone's - their set menu is only 25rmb or so!!  What a shocker... for the 6 of us, the total was 260... that was after 2 plates of buffalo wings (I want one NOW) and including the unlimited refill drinks. B-)

Arvo was pretty productive, I ploughed through a bunch of work before leaving at 6:30 for the pharmacy for some stuff for Cat... then to the DVD (hot chick was there today - YESSSSS *pulls fist toward stomach/lats*) store - no new dvds ... then to the bank to put some mo' cash in my savings... then to the quik-e-mart to pay our phone bill and buy milk... then to the newly opened french restuarant, Cantine, right across our apartment, where I just looked at the menu and the decor (both nice... I guess... at least for China)... then headed home, did a load o' laundry (FINALLY I will have clean sheets!!), fed the cats, then ate a bowl of cereal ("Oh's" - yum) for din.

Cat came back... chatted for a while before popping The Namesake into the DVD player - very good movie, and def. worth an hour and a half of your time.  I must read the book now!

Did i ever tell y'all... I am fascinated, inspired, and have a scandalous imaginary affair with India? Well if not, I do.  It is awesome.  Which reminds me... if there are any Kristin Kreuk fans out there, go find Partitioin at your nearest Netflix.com or Blockbuster or Hollywood Movie.  It was so nice to see so much of her beautiful face... :drool:

Thinking I want to go on a road trip, and I want to go back to India... maybe I should take a road trip... IN India!!  'Twould be amazing. The only way it could be more amazing was if I took the road trip in an M Coupe... either the Z3 or Z4 version are fine.  Amazing !ndia.  Amazing BMW Eng!neering!  Good night!

Quickie!

training sesh, got in another 10 minutes late.
sat 1 row behind the hot chick (who isn't actually that hot, she just has this "look"... <--- where "D" stands for "Drool"!  Ha ha)
Learned nothing all morning
Lunch a/ le chat at Babela where service was slow, but food was good
Picked up 2 Kirin "Fire" (tetra pak) coffees on my way back
Back into training, 15 minutes late.
Got a call 1/2 hour in, from the Swiss member firm of my firm's larger organization for a 5 minute "interview" to give them a taste of who I am (to best determine which resource to allocate to one of their clients who requires translation services in Suzhou for a month...)
Bakc into the training room, where I spent the rest of the day on gmail and facebook on my cell phone.   Didn't work so well though so I actually spent a lot of time mucking about with it (and my PDA - trying to get it to work because it has a bigger screen)... cuts through time like a hot knife through butter!
Home for a laundry load (sheets.. .finally... clean...)
then straight back out to FOMO (mini crayfish) with Aaron, Evan, and Cat - what a great last meal with Aaron... WEEP!  If you ever read this, it was great finally hanging out with you, man!  we'll have to do it more often in the future. B-)  Thanks also for all your stuff - Bike included!  WHICH I FORGOT TO PAY YOU FOR!!! yipes... haha oh well, i'll give you a red packet next time I'm stateside.
(OK that was a weird departure in writing style...)
So... charmant for le bingsha after din (where Smorne joined us and we thought/talked about Suz and Sesame Smoothies... and I thought about Jesse... that sounds so off.)
I left early to make it back for my 10:30 Skype Conference call w/ the boys of GP, but jus was unable to attend, and it was a short meeting, and I use "and" too often.
Aaron stopped by toward the end to say a last goodbye from Shanghai, which was sweet - he also brought all his leftover stuff, which will be very useful.   Double sweet!
And... finished the conf call, fed cats, and here I am.

Wan'an!