Tuesday - Another Primary

So I know it's been a few days - let me play catch up. I was out on business yesterday till late and was way too tired last night to do much of anything, including blogging.

First off - new pictures to view: Running around Taipei

My apartment is livable - and I've fully moved in. I did some extreme shopping for things this weekend (towels, cups, toilet paper (my favorite thing to buy - YUCK), some food.... but the place actually feels like home now. Of course, the Nintendo Wii is already connected and been used:) The water issue was fixed, but now the new problem occured when I did a load of laundry on Sunday. The washer moves a good 3-4 feet per load. I'm careful to not overload, but the thing shakes a TON! So they have someone coming tomorrow to take a look at it.

I'm also upgrading to digital cable (quicker to find my "favorite" channels... or the ones in English) and also upgrade with the HBO package in hope of getting more movie channels that are in English. Not sure when that will happen, but hopefully soon.

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful for weather. Jason and I took Saturday afternoon as a chance to go to the beach and catch some sun and sand. It is north of Taipei about a 45 minute drive - Baishawan area. It actually looks out onto the East China Sea where it connects to the Taiwan Strait... which is basically part of the Pacific Ocean. If you go straight north, you'll hit the east coast of China and Shanghi.

I also got to experience some of the Taipei nightlife (not the night markets...) with some friends from work. I had a call Friday night and went downstairs, then pretty much next door to a Japanese restaurant. Yes, I tried some new things (as I usually try to do) - a lot of it being seafood even! Beer and wine were flowing very well.... but then came the pressure to do a shot of sake. I really hate that stuff - this time reminded me of why I hate it so much. Tastes like gasoline plus the next day, my stomach always hurts. This time was no different unfortunately. We also went out for some late drinks Saturday night, ending up at a fun club - Room 18 - for the late late evening. The music was typical US club music... and extremely loud (the kind of loud that you can feel your internal organs shake before the vibrations hit your outside). The funny part was - it sounded really good! No distortion so the place was a lot of fun to dance at.

Saturday morning I did some shopping on my own at Costco and RT-mart. Got there and back all on my own! I know, quite the accomplishment! I'm getting around pretty easily. I now have my ARC (greencard) that is fancier than my Minnesota Driver's License. Also means I have my passport back so I'm safe to travel next week.

Some thoughts from around the world:

• More damage ahead for Democratic party if this thing goes on longer. Hopefully Obama shows a win in both Indiana and North Carolina and regains the momentum.
• The cyclone (not the good kind from ISU) that went through Burma is kind of scary. That's one country over from Thailand for the geographically impared. And yes - Burma and Myanmar are the same thing, depending on who you ask
• The Austrian freak that had his daughter captive and tortured for 24 years.... I'm still kind of speechless on that one. I've been reading more and more about it and this one really bothers me. I pray for the family and thank God I'm able to live a "normal" and healthy life without having to worry about things like that.
• Mario Kart Wii is out.... already working on finding a US copy here in Taiwan. Have to be careful since you can find the Japanese version mostly but we're ordering me a copy since I will NOT be able to wait till I get home.
• VooDoo Festival in New Orleans - NIN, REM, and STP... three of the greatest 3 letter acronym named bands of all time. Only need GNR, CCR, and US3.... ok, maybe not US3 (flip fantasia)

That's about all I can think of tonight/today. Here's a great video of an elephant doing some painting that might make you speechless. It's kind of long, I know - but actually worth watching in amazement. Make sure you watch for the final product!!

A Quick One For Friday

Here's my address label for my new apartment. If you're interested in sending me mail or signing me up for some magazines, or sending Sarah in a cardboard box - go ahead and print this image (the link will stay at the right along with my phone numbers). When you see the lock that I have on my door, you won't be worried about people breaking in now that they know where I live.

Don't worry about sending packages - too expensive. So far my only mail is Pizza Hut coupons (everyone got those) and some chinese food menu that of course I can't read. But yes, you do need the chinese since the mail delivery people might not read the English perfectly. No telling where it will end up.

Go Red Wings!! They close out a 4-0 series win and are now 8 wins away from the Cup returning to Detroit! This is where the whole "Octopus" thing started.... 8 arms on an Octopus, 8 wins left!

Kindof Sortof....

I'm kind of in my new place. It's been an interesting 24 hours.

I checked into the apartment yesterday - everything was nice and clean. The landlady, her secretary, and my realitor all were there to help show me how everything works, go through the checklists, etc. i was nice and listened "attentively" as she showed me how to turn on the TV and turn the channels, etc. I'm a guy, don't need help in that department. She did translate the button diagram for the remotes controlling the airconditioning in each room. That was nice of her - so no complaints. The instructions for the all in one front loading washing machine (located in the kitchen next to the sink) were in English. So I tried to figure out how that thing worked.

Now this place is BRAND NEW on the inside - completely redone from top to bottom. I'll be the first person to live in there. So we had to plug the stove in (electric), the washing machine in... I noticed the water wasn't exactly flowing into the washing machine. Well nobody had turned the valve going from the sink to the washing machine. As I turned that on, I noticed a tube coming back from the washing machine that was unattached. I asked what that was for, we got the land lady and she claimed it was extra and assured me that the return tube connects below and won't be a problem. Yes, this is what you call "foreshadowing" and I'm not very good at it.

As the washing machine ran, the internet wasn't working either. ADSL, so it's not my normal cup of tea and even I couldn't figure it out on first try. But they would call and get the cable guy to come out in the morning - so off to dinner to "celebrate" we went.

After dinner, my realitor went back to the train to head home (it was after 8pm) and I went back to my apartment to find it..... FLOODED! So yeah - American Dude 1, Chinese women in my apartment at the time 0. Funny part is that there is nowhere to attach that return tube, otherwise I would have connected it or made a stronger point of it. My guess is that who ever connected the washer, noticed it wouldn't connect, but forgot to convey the message onto someone else to make sure it got fixed. Kind of like hooking up a garbage disposal but forgetting to put an electrical outlet in underneath the sink.

Well - back to the hotel I came. I was far from a good mood at that point. Today was actually a day of improvements. By the time I went back to the apartment at 1pm to wait for the internet guy, the place had been cleaned up, the rug was hanging up to dry, and started to look respectable again. The sink was now unusable as the return pipe for everything was tore out (should be fixed Friday morning I was told). Then the bonus was that I actually got my wireless router to connect to the internet by myself and I am now fully wired/wireless in my apartment in the middle of Taipei!!!!! I accomplished this about 2 minutes before the internet guy showed up. He verified my settings were correct, then went on his way. Sure, I felt bad he came all that way - but he'll get over it.

After work I did round 1 of shopping. Pillows, Sheets and comforter (I did the bed in a bag thing), and an assortment of other stuff (new phone and answering machine.... get this - phone menu is all in English, but the lady that talks on the machine to tell you how many messages you have, etc. is all in Chinese. It works, how hard is it to check messages and delete them?

She thought she was doing me a favor by buying me a queen sized bed (which was perfectly fine) but it's "extended". All she did was make it very difficult to buy sheets. But at the moment, I have king sheets on there - and it'll get the job done short term till I find an alternate solution. I'll be making another trip to Costco this weekend sometime to get towels, and other things to fill the place.

So that's my story - and I'm stickin' to it. Tomorrow I head to a supplier for the day, so don't expect a blog till later. Depends if we go out or not. I'll be traveling with 2 IBMers from Taiwan which will make the trip more enjoyable!!!

It is May Day today - May 1st is also Labour Day in Taiwan. Most of the IBM team was working, but most of the rest of the facility that we exist in were not working. Including banks and mail service. So I have to wait till Monday now to get my green card thing and get on with the settling in. Oh well - this has been a great lesson in patience!

Have a great May Day!!! Hopefully no more snow in Rochester! It's warm and humid here!