Ticket Booked For Home

Lots of people are asking about the flooding and mudslides here in Taiwan. It's definitely worth asking, but it's all in the South of Taiwan. I'm in the North which didn't see much damage from the Typhoon other than some trees down, etc. In the Mountains, a lot of times there is only one road to get through there so when a Typhoon dumps 80 inches of rain in 2 days, you expect the ground to react in a negative way. So people are stranded up there and clearing the roads isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do. But that's what is going on in Taiwan right now. Pretty neat to see the recovery efforts by helecopter, etc. I'm seeing them on TV just like you are there, but mine isn't in English;)

It's starting to set in that I'm headed home. Mainly after going through all my stuff and boxing things up. I have three big boxes that are full, taped, recorded (for customs) and ready to send. I'm afraid to ask how much this is going to cost me! I'm pretty sure that everything that isn't boxed up will make it into my two luggage, everything after that is getting donated to neighbors and friends here in Taiwan. It's at this point that I'm glad I bought the $10 toaster, not the $15 one.

I have purchased my 1-way ticket back home. That's a weird feeling yet again.

It was a strange weekend - normal hot weather BUT on Sunday I heard someone knocking at the door of my next door neighbor. Then I heard my door bell ring. When I answered, there was a Taipei Police Officer (with gun and all) asking me (in Chinese but I understood the point) if I had seen my neighbor. I told him that I hadn't. I closed my door but for the next 20 minutes I could hear him ringing the doorbell and knocking trying to get a hold of my neighbor. I heard "Sir, I am police, let me in" and "Sir, I need you to help me". Then it died off for about 15 minutes, BUT then he returned with ANOTHER police officer. They were trying to get the door open for another 30 minutes after that. For some reason they were convinced he was inside but never did get him to open the door. A very strange affair to be sure, and of course I have no idea how it ended. Nothing more happened on Sunday.

Back in the US - football preseason has started and an impressive showing by my boy Sage for the Vikings. Here's hoping for a successful season with 2 wins over the Vikings! As for my Cyclones - I'm just wanting to start with a win over NDSU (there are a lot of NDSU graduates in Rochester with IBM), then a win over Iowa (of course the most important game of the year), a road win of some sorts (break our losing streak) and a Big 12 win! Anything more than that would be SWEET! We shall see how the Clones do this year with a new coach and a seemingly unknown team.