One I uploaded to clipshack.

The other I uploaded to www.break.com

 
Wuxi Tony October 30 - Watch more free videos

The hotspot shield doesn't allow me to upload full videos to Youtube.  But as I have options.

Here is how Wuxi looks the morning of Halloween Day:

Just lovely.

The School will have a Halloween party tonight.  I will try to go if I can.  Right now, it doesn't look as if I will.

I have downloaded a program called hotspot shield and it allows me to access Youtube and Blogspot.  The program is actually meant for laptops but it has an unintentional side-effect of allowing people to get to blocked sites.

This is funny.  Be patient.  It takes a while to upload.

This is a painting of the King of Wuxi done in the 1970s:

This was obviously the time before he broke his leg.

I had a strange occurrence with my electric razor (but not a mad butcher sort of occurrence if you know what I mean).  The heads on the razor were getting dull.  One day two weeks ago, the batteries needing changing and I so I put new ones in.  The razor went from dull to doing nothing for my face.  I thought I needed to get new shaving heads which I did, as promptly as I can go promptly (which now that I have Tony is umprompt like the mad butcher would say).  The heads did not help to my consternation.  Being at my wit's end with how to fix the razor, I switched the batteries inside the razor.  That is, I flipped the AA batteries over from negative-positive to positive-negative.  The razor then worked great.  Putting the double A batteries in the wrong way caused the blades on the heads to rotate the wrong way and not cut any hair.  I didn't think this could happen with battery-operated appliances.  Imagine putting batteries in a CD player and  the music goes Satanic.  Maybe, the mad butcher would like this sort of thing or maybe yet he wouldn't notice any difference.

That is my eerie Halloween story.

Don't pick on my buddy Steve!

Who is the mad butcher?  He must not have liked some things I wrote in the blog.

The King of Wuxi and I went to the Great Hall of the People to see a flutist in concert.  The concert was well-attended.  The hall was nice and plush. 

We knew we would have to sit patiently through some oration that we could maybe partially understand, but it got out of hand.  The introduction was long which was not a problem.  The flutist came on with a conductor and small orchestra featuring traditional Chinese instruments and the King and I were impressed.  But after one song, the flutist and the conductor left.  The m.c. harangued the audience again.  The flutist returned, did a number, left the stage and the m.c talked again for five minutes.  This pattern repeated itself throughout the evening.  We left after an hour.

Here was the hall.  You can see the m.c.

Here is a video of the flutist.  She was good.  But the music was movie music that you associate with Chinese settings.

This is my 33rd vlog.   I am using clipshack to present it.  You can't put wuxiandis down for long!!

Sunday night, the King and I will go to see a flute player, Yang Lan, at the Great Hall of the People near Taihu Square.  I am trying to find a photo of the bamboo flute player for this post but I am having no luck.  The ticket has no URL on it. 

Seablogger did a posting on Lake Tai for which I made a comment.

Visit www.andiskaulins.tumblr.com for more unique content about Wuxi and AKIC.

The last time I went to Chuan Meizi on Renmin Road (also known as Sichuan Girls restaurant), I was very disappointed by the food and the renovation.  A long-time Wuxi resident has said the food there has become crap.

I have heard from several people that the Xinjiang Mohamed Restaurant on European Street is no longer the same because of a management change.

On facebook, a group has been formed to complain about Youtube being blocked in China.

We took Tony to Ziggy's new German Pub last night and Stu's Blue Bar.  He didn't seem impressed, sleeping the whole of the time.

I have to think about Tony's education.  Here is David Warren's view of education in North America.  I wish Tony would have the benefits of a classical education: learning his latin and his rithmetic....

China to clean up polluted lake

The algae on Lake Tai killed fish and polluted tap water

China is to spend millions of dollars in an effort to clean up one of its largest lakes, which has been severely polluted by years of waste dumping.

An algae infestation earlier this year in Lake Tai, in Jiangsu province, led to a public panic and the suspension of water supplies from the lake.

The province now plans to spend $14.5m (£7m) in a five-year plan to improve water quality and control polluters.

More than 70% of China's rivers and lakes are badly polluted, figures show.

Jiangsu's government announced the cleanup plan on its website.

The plan would control the plant build-up in Lake Tai "in five years and realise the clear improvement of water quality," the government said in a statement.

"In another eight to 10 years, the problem of the Lake Tai water pollution will be basically resolved."

The lake was previously a major tourist attraction, but steadily declined as the Wuxi area developed into a centre for manufacturing and high technology.

Local difficulties

In June a bloom of blue-green algae on the lake forced officials to suspend water supplies from the lake the city of Wuxi, home to several million people.

The algae covered about one-third of the lake.

Although China accepts the severity of pollution across its waterways, there remains some local resistance those who highlight the issue.

Earlier this year Wu Lihong, a well-known environmental campaigner who had regularly collected samples from Lake Tai, was arrested and convicted of blackmailing factory owners.

His supporters say his real crime was blowing the whistle on local polluters.

Senior officials in the Chinese government regularly speak out about the dangers of pollution and the need to clean up dangerously polluted rivers and lakes.

But correspondents say local officials are more reluctant to take action against polluters and enforce regulations.

It was a year ago, October 27 2006, that we got our wedding license.  Now in China, the date on the wedding license is not the same as the date of the wedding ceremony.  So to a Westerner, it seems like there are two anniversary dates to be remembered.

Here I am signing my life away...

From now on, I will write all my random, banal musings in blogspot and tumblr.  I have written a note in Myspace forwarding to these two blogs.

This  morning, Olympic English for old people.   I and a tutor will go to some community in Wuxi and read Olympic phrases to old people.  Whoopee Do!!

Here is the view we had from our hotel room in Shanghai.

The Kaulins family is back in Wuxi after spending two days in Shanghai Wednesday and Thursday.  We are all very tired Friday morning.  The wife is especially tired.  Having to look after the baby while on the move is not easy.  Tony would need a diaper-changing and a feeding at the most inconvenient times.  It didn't help that it rained and we could not grab a taxi during rush-hour or get on a bus where passengers were not stuffed like sardines in a can.

In a restaurant in the Nanjing Road walk street, I saw a man raise his hand above his head and then snap his fingers to summon service.  It came immediately.  Snapping fingers to summon a waiter is a cliche but I don't recall every having seen someone do it before.  Not even with the King of Wuxi.  But he usually just has to raise his eyebrow.

Shanghai's newest tallest building, the World Financial whatever Center, is located near to the Jin Mao Tower, the previous tallest building.  As you look at the Pearl Tower and the Jin Mao from across the Huangpu River, on the Bund, you can now see the WFWC looming behind the Jin Mao.

I hate dealing with the government, whether it be mine or of this country.  I went to the Canadian Consulate and was asked about the color of Tony's eyes.  When I told them, it was an inappropriate question given Tony's age, they told me that it had to be filled in....

In an earlier blog entry, I wondered about the green plant stuff I have been seeing this fall in Wuxi's Canals.  Shanghai is having the same problem and according to this article in the Shanghai Daily, the green stuff is noxious.

It was Tony's first Train ride Wednesday.

We took a family portrait, of sorts, at the Bund in Shanghai.

The King of Wuxi's diet is proceeding swimmingly say Industry experts.  Reports are that he has lost 11 kg.  However, this news has set off panic buying and selling of properties in China's once- burgeoning bread sector.  "It is very simple", said an unidentified bread industry analyst, "The King eats less, stores and farmers go out of business.  Massive amounts of infrastructure close down worldwide.  It is the risk we have now in this age of globalization and levering so much on the appetite of one man, even if he is royalty."

Tony goes to Shanghai today.

It won't know what hit it...

I like the instant response the Internet gives you.  Witness this Seablogger post.  It would be like sending a letter to James Joyce or GB Shaw, and getting a next-day reply to a question.

Fred and Ivy are expecting a baby in January.  Can Adam and Amanda be far behind?

Hmmm...

But then these guys did it.

The wife bought train tickets to Shanghai.  We will take a Wednesday afternoon train in soft seats.  We will return to Wuxi Thursday evening after having done our business at the Canadian Consulate.  I pray everything will go well.  But governments being what they are, the work of Satan will be done unintentionally.

The King of Wuxi who was a Liberal Party Hack in his previous existence has not had good experiences at the Consulate.  I, a man of principle, doesn't stand a chance.

It is official.  Fred and Ivy are expecting a child on January 4.  Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs WuxiLife.

The wife brought Tony to school Tuesday afternoon.  He was a big hit.  Smiling because he was taking a pooh but yet looking cute.

I watched an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies on TVU.  Good for some cheap laughs!  Badada Boom!!

The King and I went to Ziggy's German Pub (The Bruner Baum) last night.  The Baum is in  a new location not too far from the Blue Bar on Qongning Road.  The Baum has a nice courtyard location in this traditional looking Chinese building.  Its' interior is spacious and swank.  Ziggy has his staff all aiming to please.  Prices are comparable to the Blue Bar.  Of interest to many is this flask-like device with tubes that he has.

I just learned that North is going to have a baby.  I leave it to you to guess who North is....

As you can see, I have changed the layout.  Comments about it would definitely be appreciated.

There has been a band, salvation army style, playing music since god damm six in the morning.  The wife tells me it is for a funeral.

I am numb.