Radio Silence

 You may have wondered what happened to me to go silent for almost two months.  Or maybe not since I didn't get any email about it.  My SIL from Knoxville did mention that my BIL, her husband, was missing my posts, but that was about it.  My basic explanation is that Christmas came along, and then I didn't really feel like posting.  Everything I thought about writing about seemed trivial.  I had to rethink the topics and how I write.  The early posts seemed fun, and the last posts felt more like a diary entry.

Not to bore you, but the focus is now going to be on projects undertaken by the Haphazard Countryman...me!  Things that may enlighten others and help others learn from my mistakes, of which there will probably be many.

So please stay tuned, and feel free to tell your friends about this blog if you find it useful, interesting, or if you are just a very social communicator, like my boys in school.  But that is a whole other topic that probably won't be discussed here.

One milestone that did arrive during the silence that needs to be celebrated is the 2003 Ford Expedition hit the 200K mark.

And it is still going strong.  Ok, maybe not strong, but definitely still going.  The Good Wife and I hope it keeps going for a while so we don't have to spend the money to get a new vehicle yet.  It still works!  And any minor repair is less than a car payment.  So we are going to keep driving on!

China Trip Recap

My apologies for going silent for a bit.  A trip to China for two weeks interrupted my flow and kept me busy once I got back home.  Several of the last posts were done ahead of time and posts while I was gone, since China does not allow internet access to Blogger.  Before my posts get back to the usual items of the Haphazard Countryman's life, I wanted to go over a few items from my recent trip to China.  If you follow me on Twitter, DWAinAZ, you would have seen most of these items already.  (I realize my Twitter name refers to being in Arizona, but the account was started before I moved to VA.

After arriving in China at my hotel, I like to make a quick trip to the store to get some snacks.  My favorites are Pringles.  However, while there, I like to take a look at the other available flavors of potato chips.

Like "Finger Licking Braised Pork Flavor" or "Black Pepper Rib Eye Steak Flavor".  

And my favorite, "Numb & Spicy Hot Pot Flavor".  Not sure exactly what this would taste like as I wasn't feeling too brave at the time.

When you arrive at a factory to see how your production is going, you never want to see what I saw below.

Fortunately, that was our product flying part way down the makeshift slide before falling off and impacting on the ground!

Do you ever wonder what happens to all the manufacturing equipment in the US once they change the format, such as for soda cans?  Remember the old pull tabs that you would fully remove from the can and then stick back into the can.  Parents always warned you not to swallow the tab.  Answer found, they ship everything to China and they use it.

While in the airport, waiting for a flight in one of the lounges, there was a machine called the Popcake.  It was push button service for pancakes.  The photo below was taken so I could make fun of the machine.

Push the button for how many pancakes you want, and out the pop on the right side, dropping right down on the stack of plates.  They are Made in the USA.  No wonder the trade deficit is out of balance so severely if we are relying on this machine!  

However, after trying a couple, and going back for seconds, I can't complain.  They are really good!  I wish we had one of these machines in our office at work!

The Chinese also seem to be more efficient at using their resources.  Such as getting new cars to market.  In the USA, it is one row of cars stacked on top of another row of cars and shipped to market.  In China they are able to stick two rows of cars on top.

And the last bottom van was hanging halfway out the back of the truck.  Not sure this would fly in the USA.

On the way back, I flew through Beijing.  That is one polluted city.  The picture below is from the airplane on the way down into Beijing.  It was mid-afternoon and by the time we landed, it was dark and the lights were on all over. 

Once the sun gets down at any angle, it gets dark fast due to the sun not making it through the clouds.  This always makes it good to be home.

Now back to my home and the chickens, bees and deer hunting.  Yes, you read that right.  Keep following to see what I have gotten myself into now.

Plane View of Thunderstorms

The other week I made a quick trip for work up to Boston.  On the way back there were several storms along the way and the plane felt as though it was winding its way through a forest of trees.  Looking out the window there was a great view of the thunderstorms, so a few pictures of the clouds seemed in order.

The pictures don't do the storms justice.  I could see the clouds growing and billowing as we flew by.  Even though it looked sunny in these photos, once it was time to land, that was not the case.  Only once has the in-flight sickness bag been necessary with all the miles that I have logged.  By the time we finally got on the ground, it was close to being the second time.  Luckily, the pilot decided just in time to get the plane on the ground and the unused bag was gently tucked into the seat back.  Ready for another passenger on another day.

20th Wedding Anniversary

August was a busy month.  Other than the Good Wife's family reunion, there was also the earthquake and the start of school.  But the big event was the Good Wife and my 20th wedding anniversary.  20 years!  That seems like such a long time ago.  It was three kids ago, two dogs ago, three houses ago, two states ago and about seven cars ago.

A little while before our anniversary, the Good Wife got one of those timeshare calls asking us to come and visit a resort in Williamsburg.  For our time, we would get two nights and three days in Williamsburg.  Why not?  It would only take 90 minutes of our time.

The weekend came and off we went, along with the three boys.  They joined us for the first night there since it was a Thursday night.  Friday morning, some friends met us part way and took them until Saturday evening.  The Good Wife and I were celebrating.  Now what?

You never know what you will see in when you get into a tourist infested area.

On the recommendation of a co-worker, we went to find Edward's Virginia Ham Shoppe.  We happened to come across one in Williamsburg and got a sandwich from their deli.  It was excellent.  They were friendly and kept offering us samples.  We could have stayed there and had a full meal.

But apparently that wasn't the original store.  We were on a quest.  The original Virginia Ham Shoppe was across the James River.  And the best way to get across the river is by the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry.

Although it looks foggy, it was smoke from the Great Dismal Swamp fire.  It was a nice ride across the river.  Something different.  Once on the other side, it was a few miles down the road and there was the original Ham Shoppe.

Surprisingly it was smaller than the other shop in Williamsburg.  We had such a good sandwich the day before, we decided to get another one for later.  We asked for the same sandwich we had at the first shop, and they wouldn't give it to us!  We wanted the pretzel bread but didn't want a hot sandwich.  They refused to make it for us.  They said they only make the pretzel bread in a hot sandwich.  We told them we had just had a cold sandwich with the pretzel bread the day before at the shop in Williamsburg, but they still refused.  I don't understand how stores can stay in business being that rude.  We selected a different bread, got our sandwich and headed back to the ferry.

Before getting back on the ferry, we stopped at a dollar store for some oyster crackers.  We wanted to feed the seagulls that followed the ferry.

They were everywhere.  And most of them were very talented and would catch them up in the air.  Several families came back to watch and we shared our crackers with the kids.  Everyone had fun.

Then it was time to go to our timeshare meeting.  We had no interest at any point, and were only fulfilling our obligation.  Three hours later, it was finally over.  Yes you read that right, three hours!  The only good thing was that our salesman took us on a drive through Williamsburg to show us the sights and told us a lot of the history of the area.  That was worth it, but that is about it.

We drove the entire Colonial National Historic Parkway.  It is a nice road through the woods between Jamestown, through Williamsburg and on to Yorktown.

We got to see the Yorktown Victory Monument and walk along the beach and have some ice cream.

Too soon it was time to head home.  We had fun, even though our "free" hotel was horrible  I don't even want to mention the name.  We had originally planned to go to Las Vegas and get our wedding vows renewed by Elvis.  We did that for our 10th anniversary and wanted to do it again, but that was when we were still living in Phoenix and much closer to Las Vegas.

I rented a tux, the Good Wife slipped back into her original wedding dress, and Elvis presided.  It was just the two of us and Elvis.  We had a lot of fun.  Who knows, maybe for our 30th!  I'm sure Elvis will still be alive and kicking in Las Vegas.

First Bee Sting

It seems that our family can't remember what our house looks like on the weekends as we have been on the road the last several weekends, this weekend included.  We headed up to Baltimore and the National Aquarium.  A friend of ours is a diver for the Henrico Fire Department, and he had the opportunity to go diving in the tanks at the aquarium with the fish, so we went along to watch.  But before we headed out on Saturday, the bees got a visit from me to see how things were going.

The bees haven't seen me since before the hurricane.  It is starting to get cooler during the nights and the bees needed to be checked to make sure they are storing up enough honey and pollen to get them through the winter months.

There was some concern about hive #2 of my original hives.  The last inspection showed that there was honey on a few of the outer frames on the top hive body only in the upper corners of the frames.  Definitely not enough for the winter.  Figured that the bees would need some additional feeding this fall, I made up three containers of 2:1 sugar syrup with a little Honey-B-Healthy added in, one for each hive.

Inspecting original hive #1, I was pleasantly surprised how many bees were in the hive and how much honey was in the hive.  The top hive body outer frames were loaded with honey on both sides.  The really surprising thing was that they even had finally drawn out the 1 and 10 frame on the top hive body.  They had left the foundation without any comb at the last inspection.  Now they had drawn it out and filled it partially with honey.  The bottom hive body showed plenty of brood, both capped and uncapped along with quite a bit of pollen.  The queen wasn't seen, but evidence was there. This hive has always been my strongest, and the confidence level is high that this hive will winter well.  The honey super on this hive was still untouched, but was left on to make sure the bees knew they didn't need to look elsewhere for space.

Inspecting original hive #2 was no surprise.  The little honey that was there on the previous inspection had dwindled down to only a few frames in the upper corners in the upper hive body.  Very little honey anywhere, and not a lot of pollen either.  There was a wasp that was right on top of me and the frames as I was doing the inspection on this hive.  It kept flying around my face and then going after the honey on the frames sitting outside the hive.  You can see it in the bottom right corner of the picture below.

After the inspection was almost complete, the wasp sat down on one of the support boards that extends from under my hives.  A quick slap of the hive tool and the wasp was permanently dispatched.  One other thing that I noticed was that there were some larvae that looked larger than would normally be uncapped laying on the bottom of the cells.  You can see them in the picture below.

There were still some drones in the hive, and some of the cells around these looked like drone cells.  Would the worker bees not cap larvae that were going to be drones this late in the summer?  If anyone knows what this situation is, and if I need to worry, please let me know.There were probably less than a dozen of these total in the hive.

This hive needed to be fed so it could start building up its winter stores of honey.  I added a hive top feeder and filled it up with syrup.  The honey super that was on the hive was left on since there were still a lot of bees in the hive, and I am hoping that they will fill up the drawn comb in the deep hive bodies, and not start to draw comb in the honey super first.  After doing that, second thoughts crept in and I may try to remove the honey super to force the bees to fill the deep hive bodies.  The brood pattern in this hive was also smaller and more patchy than original hive #1.  It probably could use a pollen patty to give it a boost.  Tomorrow after work I may try to get to the hive and remove the honey super and add in half a pollen patty.  After putting everything at the original hives back together, it was time to head over to the Possum hive.

The last inspection at the Possum hive showed that there was an average amount of honey, but not enough to keep it through the winter.  This has been a very busy hive since then.  The top hive body was full of honey and some pollen.  There was a little brood in the lower portion of the center frames.  The bottom hive body was amazing.  There was lots of pollen and other than the outside two frames on either side, it was solid brood.  And not just patchy, but solid.  This queen has the best laying pattern of all three of my hives.  At this point, I didn't add a feeder as it seems to be on the right track to preparing for winter.

A close eye will be kept on original hive #2 to see how fast it takes in the syrup.  The hive top feeder was also turned around since that hive is on a steeper slope, and this will keep the syrup usable towards the front where the access is to the hive top feeder.  This isn't standard, but we will see how it works out.  The other hives may need feeding next month, depending on how things progress, but they are looking good now.

I also got my first bee sting, on the middle of my left forearm.  I felt a little prick on my arm, looked down and didn't see anything, so kept on inspecting.  A little bit later I felt it again.  I looked closer and there was the stinger.  No bee, just the stinger.  I'm not sure what happened or why it felt it needed to sting me, but it did.  It wasn't so bad.  Nothing like a wasp or hornet sting.  Hopefully though, these will be few and far between.

Family Reunion in West Virginia

None of the Good Wife's family is from West Virginia, not that there is anything wrong with being from West Virginia, I think, but it was a nice central location for everyone.  It was decided that Stonewall Resort was the place to go.  There were tent camping sites right on the water, RV sites with full hook-ups, multi-bedroom cabins and a full feature lodge and conference center.  It would work for everyone no matter what type of accommodations they wanted.

The day before heading out, I made the decision to take our ski boat with us.  We haven't used it in a few years, but I had just run it dry the week before checking to see how it ran, and everything seemed good.  It would be about five hours of towing a boat through the mountains of West Virginia.  Do I really want to do that?  After a little second guessing while getting ready, off we went.

We had a treat along the way.  We decided to stop at a small town along the way and have lunch.  We just happened to pick Durbin, WV.  Besides it being a really quaint town nestled in the mountains of West Virginia, they have an active railroad with a steam engine.  While we were having lunch, it just happened to come into the station across the street.  We might have to make a return visit during the fall colors to enjoy the train ride.

After finally getting to the resort, we got our campsite setup.  We had chosen to camp in a tent.  What I didn't mention, was that it was the beginning of August and it was still hot and humid.  The boys had fun, but we only lasted one night in the tent.  The Good Wife's parents were in one of the two bedroom cabins and her sister and family from Knoxville, including the Good BIL (Brother-In-Law) couldn't make it, so we gladly took their place in the cabin.

I can't say enough about the resort.  Included with the cabins and for only $14/day for each campsite, all the amenities were included.  That consisted of the pools, kayaks, canoes, activity center, fishing equipment, paddle boats.  You name it, they had it.  Not only that, a couple nights some storms rolled in, so we went to the lodge and asked if there was a room our family could use to play some games.  Several times they gave us a conference room at no cost!  They were very helpful and friendly.

Taking the boat turned out to be a good decision.  All the kids enjoyed it, and the lake the resort was located on, was narrow and winding with few boats, which meant lots of glass.  That's smooth water for you non-skiing people out there.

It didn't matter that it rained on us several times while out on the lake.  Glass is glass.  Get it while you can.  A few of the adults went out with us, but for the most part, I was the driver for the weekend and all the kids got an opportunity to go out behind the boat.

Oldest son got to kneeboard...

and wakeboard.

Youngest Son even got some time on the kneeboard and was able to get up on his knees and have some fun.

Even I got a little time behind the boat on the wakeboard when I could pull the Good Wife away from her family for a few moments.  I took the first run of the day and it was still a little foggy out, but the water was smooth!

This was the first day, so we still weren't exactly sure where the lake went, so it was a little nerve wracking trying to see the shore through the fog.

It was so calm that I even got a few runs barefooting.  Since it had been a few years since this body has been barefooting, I decided to stay on the boom and not go from the rope.

The Oldest Son had the most fun doing double kneeboards with one of his cousins.  Two boys, two kneeboards with two lines.  Good fun spraying each other and trying to push each other off.

Of course, when in West Virginia, a possum must be involved somehow.  One night while coming out of the lodge after playing some games, the kids saw a possum and chased it into the parking lot.  The possum was trying to get to the woods and the kids were trying to corner the possum.  From one car to another the possum ran with the kids chasing around yelling to each other whenever they saw it.  I'm sure this is something they won't forget soon.

The only disappointing part of this trip was that we only went for a long weekend.  This resort is definitely a spot where we could easily spent a full week, with lots of time behind the boat.  We haven't used the boat in a couple years, so it was great to get it out.  Boating is a great family activity.  Everyone is captive to a small area and we get to watch each other and talk and have fun together.  And you get some exercise at the same time.  There aren't many activities that allow families to do all that.  If you know of any, let me know.

Crabtree Falls Hike

Over the July 4th weekend we took a few day trips around our area and got to see a lot of different things, including the Jamestown settlement and Yorktown battlefield.  We also went towards the mountains and took a hike up Crabtree Falls.

It was easy to get to and easy to find along the road.  They have the usual National Park Service bathrooms that are basically a concrete hole with a sheet metal toilet seat sitting on top.  The nasal aroma is intense, but it gets the job done when you are no where near a bathroom and in need.

Reading online, we read that it was 1.1 miles to the top.  However, upon arrival at the falls, the trail started with a distance marker proclaiming 0.0 of 1.7.  Hmmm.  It was hot that day, and no wind in the trees as we started our hike.  It didn't take long to get to the first scenic views of the waterfall.

The hike was an easy trek, with a lot of work done on the trail to make it accommodating to all people, including log steps and the rocks cut into steps at places.

Although the claim to fame is that these falls are "...the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfalls east of the Mississippi River..." there isn't a single vertical drop that is in and of itself overly impressive.  It is more the combination of all the falls in this line, along with the pools full of cold mountain water that make this a beautiful hike.

Oldest and Youngest sons decided that they didn't want to go much past the 1.1 mile mark.  So we continued on and left them there to soak their feet in a cool pool.  After spending a short time at the top and starting to head down, Oldest and Youngest sons were heading up the train to the top, so we turned around and went back up to enjoy the views with them.

Asked why they decided to keep going and come all the way to the top, Oldest Son said that he was tired of people looking at them sitting there as they walked by heading up to the top!  Stranger peer pressure.  Amazing.

The hike down was easier, and the views were just as spectacular of the water falls on the way up.

I highly recommend this hike if you are in the area as the drive to the parking lot to start the hike is just as rewarding as the hike itself.  My only comment would be to take enough water for the hike up and down, or take a small water filter as one guy at the top had, especially if it is in the heat of summer.  You won't be disappointed.

Up, Up and…Down

Unless you have been sequestered to a hole in the ground for the last year or so, you are aware of the group coupon sensation Groupon.  I get a daily e-mail showing me the “Deal of the Day.”  A lot of it is for local restaurants or service industries, such as house cleaning, massages and car detailing.  Occasionally things come along that allow you to add a new experience in your life.  That day came along last fall.  My daily e-mail came to me enticing me with a beginner hang gliding lesson.  I couldn’t resist.  I clicked on the “Buy Now” and forgot about it.

About mid-February I got an update e-mail from Groupon reminding me to use the coupons I had bought.  On the list, along with a car detailing service coupon, which I am waiting for the pollen invasion to end before using, I saw the hang gliding coupon.  It had an expiration date towards the end of April.  I also had my China trip at the beginning of April, so I called and scheduled my hang gliding experience right after getting back from China.  That always sounds like a good idea before my trip, but after the trip I am usually so tired and worn out that I wonder what I was thinking.

The day came and I headed out past Mechanicsville to Blue Sky Hang gliding.  It was a cool, clear morning with a lot of dew on the ground.  I wondered how we were going to learn to hang glide when I couldn’t see a hill higher than 10 feet around.  All I saw was a wheat field growing and a long stretch of grass that was the runway. 

After watching Steve setup the hang gliders, I got fit into a harness and signed the waiver.  Then I signed some more, initialed here and there, signed a couple more places that mentioned that it was a hazardous sport, death was possible, blah, blah, blah.  Initial here, here, here and here, then sign at the bottom.  Out to the runway for ground school.  Another couple showed up partway through ground school and the explanation of how to control the glider in flight. 

Out on the runway, sitting next to the glider was a simple setup, consisting of a moped bolted to a small trailer with wheel chocks under the trailer.   The rear wheel was replaced with a spoon of cord that went all the way down the runway to a pulley and then all the way back to the hang glider.  This cable would then be hooked to my harness and the hang glider. 

After a little more instruction I was hooked up to the cable, lifted the glider then called “All clear” and started to run.  I only took about a step before the cable was pulling me and the glider down the runway as I was running to keep up.  Two steps and the glider was lifting itself.  A few more steps and my feet were treading air.  I was flying!  Or gliding as it may be.  Either way, I was off the ground and sailing through the air.  Now I’m going right, pull my weight to the left.  Now I’m going left, pull my weight to the right.  Now left, now right, now left.  I’m off the runway, here comes the ground!

Luckily there are wheels on these gliders, so if you don’t get your feet underneath you, the glider will land and roll without flipping.  And I was only about 5-10 feet off the ground.  Of course, the harness and my chest was a pretty effective mop to soak up the dew where I landed.

The other couple each took a turn and then I was up again.  There was an orange cone placed down at the end of the runway.  That was our target, our goal to reach.  I the next few hours I had several more glides down the runway.  One ended up in the wheat field, which held a lot more dew than the grass.  My last run I made it.  All the way down the runway to the cone.  I landed to the left of the runway, but I was at the end. 

After this experience, I have to say that people that learn to hang glide off cliffs are nuts, or suicidal!  The glider was much more difficult to control than I anticipated, and was glad they didn’t tow me way up into the sky and let me go.  If there is a sane way to learn to hang glide, this was it.  Was it fun?  You bet it was.  Would I do it again?  I’m not sure.  It would take a lot of lessons before I would be comfortable to be towed 500 feet up into the air and then released to search for the thermals that would take me up to thousands of feet.  I would have to be pretty committed to the sport and serious about learning it.  Was it worth it?  With a Groupon that took the price from $99 to $49, ABSOLUTELY!

Pizza Hut, Pizza and Expectations in China

I am a little past half way through a 2-week trip to China for work as this is written. (I can't upload it until I get back out of Communist China as they block blogs, etc. for political reasons.)  This isn’t my first time to China, somewhere in the low 20’s I believe.  The first time, it was really neat, to travel to a far exotic country and see a different culture, although the part of culture I got to see was factories and hotels.  Not a good representation of China at all.

Several years ago, I got to take the good wife, and we did a whirlwind tour.  We traveled through Japan to Beijing and got to see all the typical tourist sites in that area, The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and took a Hutong tour on a bicycle among other things. 

Tiananmen Square

The Great Wall of China

Then it was down to Shanghai for a couple days.  The highlights there were getting to go skiing/snowboarding indoors and the Maglev train ride to the airport, hitting 430 km/h or 268 mph! 

Indoor Skiing in Shanghai

Speed of the Maglev Train

The main part of the journey was down in the Dongguan area, working in the factories.  The highlight there was a foot massage which lasts over an hour and costs about $10 USD.  Not a bad deal.  The good wife also got a scalp massage for over an hour, while I slaved away at the factories.

Foot Massage

We had a couple days in Hong Kong before heading back to Tokyo, Japan.

Hong Kong from Victoria's Peak

In Japan we did a walking tour of the area around Shibuya, which is famous for its 6-way scramble intersection. 

Tokyo from our Hotel Room

Shibuya 6-way Intersection in Tokyo

By then our trip had come to an end and it was time to head home.  The good wife questioned why I always complained about my 2-week trips to China, that she had so much fun and got to see so many things.  I explained that my trips did not consist of galavanting around Southeast Asia, and that I spend my 2-weeks in the Dongguan area in the factories and hotels.  Then she understood, as that was the least favorite part of the trip for her.

Over the course of all my trips to China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia, I have taken hundreds, if not thousands of pictures.  Things that used to amaze and amuse me, now seem common place and I don’t even look twice.   From driving down the wrong side of the road or on the sidewalk, to five people jammed on a motorcycle.

But there are still a few things that annoy me when traveling in China.  One of them is pizza.  After eating Chinese food (real Chinese food, not the breaded and fried American version of Chinese food) for a week, I need a break.  Pizza is a perfect relief, usually.  If you can find the Pizza Hut, you will get a very accurate copy of the pizza you will find at your local Pizza Hut, although the menu is substantially different.  It is seafood pizza, and all sorts of other odds and ends, more like a full restaurant, than the pizza joint in America.  I happened to visit a Pizza Hut in Dongguan on the first week it had opened.  The pizza was spot on.  However, a few years later, and all the pizza has a funny fishy taste.  Since they don’t wash their seasoned pans, and just wipe them clean, they have taken on the flavor of all those seafood toppings the locals enjoy.  And if you need the bathroom, you better hope it is for a quick relief and not a time to ponder, because you will be squatting and not sitting.

However, last week I went to lunch with a supplier to the Tianmu Blue Bird Café Western Restaurant, also just known as the Blue Bird Café.  After looking at the pizza menu for a bit, the only safe pizza seemed to be the Hawaiian.  The traditional ham and pineapple toppings.  Seemed like a safe choice.   My host ordered the seafood pizza, which I wasn’t going to get near.  When the pizza came, I took a long hard stare at them.  I couldn’t tell which was which.  I saw squid circles (calamari) on one, I saw shrimp on the other.  After my host had a brief consultation with the waitress, it was determined that the one with shrimp was mine.  Apparently the standard pizza comes with shrimp topping, free of charge.  It is as though the shrimp is in the sauce.  Not big shrimp, but not small either.  Kernels of corn were also a standard topping on all pizzas, along with green peppers and a few olives here and there.  Under the cheese was a bit of ham and some small pieces of pineapple.  I was hungry enough that I figured I could choke it down, although in my mind I had pictures a Pizza Hut quality pizza.  That was OK, I would get it down with my Taiwanese iced lemon tea that I had ordered.  I took a big gulp and then held it in my mouth.  What else was in there?  I looked at the glass.  All I saw was ice at the top and some slices of lemons floating in the tea.  But there was definitely something of substance in my mouth, and it wasn’t ice or lemons.  I swallowed.  I looked back at the glass of tea.  I stirred it a bit and saw clear gelatinous lumps turning over and over.  I took a sip through the straw, and I felt some slimy lumps come through.  It felt as though I had a mouth full of lemon flavored lugies.  Aargh!  Another choking swallow.  I ate a little over half my shrimp laden Hawaiian pizza, took a few more sips of my iced lemon lugie tea and I was done.  My appetite had been satisfied (as much as it was going to be satisfied at this meal).

It wasn’t that the meal was that bad.  The pizza tasted alright, and iced lemon tea had ice, lemon and tea.  It’s just that what you have in mind of a meal when ordering and what you receive, is not usually the same thing in China.  You think I would know that much by now!

Toronto Pearson Airport High-Speed Walkway

Every now and then when I travel I stumble upon something unique that catches my eye.  Being a mechanical engineer (at least that is what my diploma says), I tend to look at technological items with a  curious fascination. 

On my way to China, I went through Toronto Pearson International Airport.  Unfortunately, because I fly into Toronto from Richmond, VA, which isn’t a very large airport, I don’t get to fly on a big jet into Toronto and as you know, the small planes don’t park close to the airport Terminal.

In fact, it was on one of these small planes into Toronto that I first “lost it” on a commercial airline, but that is another story.  As a piece of advice though, if you happen to fly on a Beech 1900D, don’t take seat 1A.  Although you may think you are getting the best seat in the plane with the most legroom, you aren’t getting a window.  And when flying through a thunderstorm in a tin can without a window to look out and get your bearings, and all you see ahead of you is the cockpit and flashes of light from lightning through the front window (because there is no cockpit door or even a curtain), you will be wishing you were on solid ground while you fumble for the air sickness bag.

On the journey to the terminal from the gate, because it was more than just a walk, I came across a high-speed walkway.  It was the coolest thing I had seen in an airport.  As I stepped on, the walkway panels below me started to expand and speed up, as did the handrail.  Soon I was flying past the people walking both on the regular floor and the normal moving escalator. 

At the end, it worked in reverse and the platforms started to move together, closing up the platform underneath, and slowing down at the same time.  At the end, I stepped off as though I was walking off an ordinary moving walkway.  The statistics say that a commuter using a walkway like this twice a day would save 15 minutes a week and 10 hours a year.  But this is in an airport, and it saved me maybe 30-40 seconds overall.  Not sure the overall benefits are there for how much I am assuming it might have cost, but overall, it was pretty cool!

Sick in China and McDonald's Delivery Service

Being sick isn’t any fun, but being sick in a foreign country by yourself is horrible.  I landed in China on Sunday night with a slight sore throat.  By Monday night I was aching all over and my head was congested and draining constantly.  Monday night I had fever and chills and didn’t sleep too well.  The good part was that Tuesday was Tomb Sweeping Festival, so all the factories were closed and there was no work to be done.  I got to lay around my hotel room and try to get better for Wednesday.

Not being hungry in the morning, I didn’t go down for the included breakfast buffet in the lobby.  It is pretty good with the usual western items including omelets made to order.  They also have a selection of Chinese food, including the steamed esophagus that the good wife tried on her visit to China.  I’m not sure what animal it came from, but she did take a couple bites and then chewed and chewed and chewed.

By the afternoon, I was feeling a bit better, but even more, I was hungry.  I hadn’t changed out of my PJ’s and didn’t feel like getting cleaned up to go out and get some food.  And when ordering the hotel food you have to manage your expectations, because it usually isn’t how you would imagine it to be. 

McDonald’s to the rescue!  Nothing tastes better when getting better from being sick than a cheeseburger and some french fries.  You wonder how McDonald’s could be my solution?  In China, McDonald’s delivers, 24 hours a day, within 30 minutes.

A simple call the the McDonald’s “800” number in China, 4008-517-517, and you reach the McDonald’s delivery call center.  After a message in Chinese, in English they tell you to push #2 for English.  Then an “English speaking” person gets on the phone to take your order.  After giving them your address, they determine if there is a McDonald’s in your area, and then they ask for your order and give you a total.  The service cost is ¥7, about $1 USD.  There is no minimum order and they will deliver 24 hours a day.

About 30 minutes later, they knocked on my hotel room door and there was my food.  The delivery person rides a bike and carries a large plastic insulated chest on their back like a backpack.  (I got the picture below a few days later after I was feeling slightly better.) 

It has a hot compartment and a cold compartment.  My double cheeseburger was still hot, the fries were warm and my Oreo McFlurry was cold, although slightly melted.  The way I was feeling, it was just perfect.

Good American comfort food in China.  It’s as good as a spoon full of sugar helping the medicine go down!