… something to write home about.

As you may have heard, we have been in the process of adding to our family and, as of Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at 11:43 A.M., we have a new boy in the family.

Ain’t he cute?

Since it was more formal (in a legal way) than our first boy’s adoption, we were sworn in by the bailiff (including the Boy) and both the baby’s attorney and our attorney were there along with our DCFS case worker. Lots of my family were also in the court room.

We gave our testimony to the judge and the the boy held his new baby brother, who laughed and made faces, enough so that we think the judge was laughing as well. The boy gave his testimony and had a bit of a chat with the judge; the judge reminded him of the duties of the eldest as the judge was also the oldest kid in his family. By the time it was done, my mom and aunts were crying a bit but it was very nice and all.

Plus, it is OVER.

I tried for several pictures with my phone to get a decent picture of the new little one after the hearing but he was wiggling about and wouldn’t hold still. This is as close as I could get to a non-blurred picture. Others in the group took pictures but I haven’t got them yet so this is as good of one as you all get right now. It is also the last time he’ll be in that vest as it fits him JUST RIGHT and at the rate he is going it won’t in a couple of weeks.

So, I’m not a big fan of tattoos.  I don’t have any and the idea kind of gives me the creeps.  I don’t have any piercings for  the same reason - at the time of my life when it was trendy and something I might have done, that type of body modification just doesn’t appeal to me.  If you have one or want one, that’s fine, but it isn’t my scene.

This, however, is too much:

Lower Back Tattoos Now Available at Toys R Us (from www.cockeyed.com )

It really isn’t that much different than the temporary tattoos that I used to have from a box of Cracker Jacks growing up or that my boy keeps finding in toys and cereal.  I think what bothers me about these is the sexual connotation associated with a lower back tat.

Am I wrong in this? I see a lower back tat and I think "tramp stamp" but perhaps that is just my prejudice showing through.  Let me know in the comments if there is another common impression from a lower back tat.

For some reason, the last 30 hours or so I’ve had lots and lots of spammers that snuck through my Akismet filter in an attempt to tell you all about cheap deals on erectile dysfunction medication, free videos of consenting adults, inexpensive airfare, and the like.  I’ve removed them all from the management queue but if you have left a comment or find that one has made it to publication, please let me know by email or other method so I can address it.

Thanks!

On my recent visit back to Shenzhen, China, we had a little… adventure.  We were staying at this very nice, posh hotel.  It was clean, nice location, large, comfortable rooms - nearly perfect.  Until we went to bed, that it is.  Sleeping that night was miserable. The bed was basically a slab of plywood with some batting on it.  I called down and asked them to do something about it; change rooms, change bed, something. 

They brought up a couple of comforters and put them under the bed sheet.  A minor adjustment at best and it didn’t do much.  Soooo uncomfortable. 

The next day, with the thought of that bed waiting for us at the hotel, we decided to fix the problem.We walked over to WalMart, about a five minute walk and bought some air mattresses (five of them). Oh, also a case of water, ’cause you really can’t drink water from the tap here.

We then wheeled the shopping cart with the boxes of mattresses (and a case of bottled water) through the park, across the street, down the alley. Carried the cart up the stairs and then wheeled it THROUGH THE LOBBY, into the elevator and up to the 16th floor.

Giggling the whole time.

Earlier in the day, we had talked to the hotel management and they didn’t have a solution for us for this trip.  As we rolled the cart through the lobby, the hotel management staff had no clue what to do with us.

We dispersed the materials (including the bottled water) and then two of us took the cart back to WalMart. I didn’t go to return the cart, but the report back was that the WalMart staff cheered when they took the cart back - they didn’t know what to do with the crazy Americans and we think they were trying to decide whether or not to go after the cart when we returned it.

So, as some of you might know, I can be quite a "Grumpy Gus" at times.  However, I am quite aware of this and actively try not to be and, at least in my head, I’m moderately successful. I’ve even had people comment that I’m upbeat and positive when stuff isn’t going well and they think I’m a bit loony, which is fine. I know that if I act as if I’m in a good mood then, in a few minutes, I’ll be in a good mood.

However, today I read a comic strip (and boy do I love my comics) which summed up my goal in my personal philosophy, quoted here:

Ya set yer expectations to "grim" an’ each day is like Christmas!

Exactly.

We had a shopping excursion over the weekend and ended up in Luo Hu, a very big shopping mall.  It is less of a mall in the western sense and more a building filled with street vendors … four floors of it.  Each vendor’s shop is perhaps a 8-10 foot storefront and runs back from 10 to 30 feet.  The vendors usually have someone inside doing sales and someone stationed outside to pull people in - when I say ‘pull’ I mean it.  Lots of grabbing hands and arms to get you into their store.

We were shopping in one store and the vendor looks at me and smiles.  As you all may know, I’ve got a bit of a belly on me; I’m not svelte by any means or angle.   The vendor looks at me again and asks:

"How many baby you have in there?"

Now, I know he is making a joke at my expense and that’s fine; it is a good joke.  I quip back with:

"I ate one for breakfast.  Gave me gas."

Which, of course, cracked up my traveling companions to no end and totally confused the vendor.  For the rest of the day I was ‘Man with baby’; fortunately that nickname seems to have passed now.

The few Adderites will recognize my reference to TB-EBOBAW, also known as "Da Bish".

So, I’m working with our engineering partners in Shenzhen, China for the last 10 days or so.  I’ve gotten tired of going out with the group so tonight I rebelled and walked to Wal-Mart for snacks and then walked to Pizza Hut to pick up a pizza that tastes okay, but Not Quite Right.

C’est La Vie.

In case you were wondering, I am aware of the stuff going on in Tibet.  CNN shows it and when CNN crosses the line and starts to show something that the Chinese authorities think isn’t appropriate, the television station goes black for a bit.  Sometimes it is for just a few seconds; earlier this evening it was for about 15 minutes.  I usually pull up a web browser at that point and join millions of Chinese computer users in circumventing the Great Chinese Firewall with VPNs and open proxies to watch CNN online.

I’m such a naughty boy.

I haven’t taken as many pictures this trip, except for Sunday’s sight seeing excursion. I’m ready to go home but I’ve got a couple more days to go yet before heading home.

Other than that, I’m still alive and all that jazz.

Arrived in Hong Kong earlier after about 16 hours in the air and a total of over 20 hours travel time.

Not too bad considering the distance.

The group is heading out for dinner and a cruise through the entertainment district of Wan Chai. More later, if I survive…

UPDATE: All survived, a couple with hangovers. No fights or missing so I’ll call the babysitting a success. Oh, and they came up with the label, not me.

I’m finally, finally done for the day.  Checking out at… 11:55 PM to drive home and crawl into bed.

My head is full of cobwebs,
My jaw is full of pain.
Time to crash,
perchance to dream,
then do it all again.

So, this tells us that if you keep me up too late too many days in a row and get me up too early the next day too many days in a row then you get really bad poetry.

I’ve decided that I’m going to find (or make) a T-shirt that says "I have a rich inner life".

‘Cause that would be cool.