In the latest episode of the Web's most outstanding infant update series, Tony and his father play catch.

It is Monday afternoon and I don't who won the Euro 2008 Final.  I am watching a replay now and I see Spain scored the first goal in the match which seem well-deserved considering they had the edge of play from what I have just seen.  Germany is where I was born but I am cheering for the Spaniards even though I have nothing of their blood in me, at least that I know of.

My new apartment is really an outstanding place to be.  It is very comfortable and the wife does an excellent job of cleaning and organizing it.

I have given four of the seven episodes of John Adams my full attention. (I have watched six of seven episodes inattentively)  I see that George Washington would not be elected President in this day and age.  He was no orator.   At his inauguration, no one could hear him say the words of the Oath.  John Adams could not be elected President these days because he was too much of a policy wonk.  Thomas Jefferson could not be elected President these days because he was too intelligent and was not orator.  The French, as always, are assholes in the series.  It is no wonder that a flamboyant do-nothing like Ben Franklin would be so liked by them.

Cecilia, our neighbor at 55-401, showed me the Hui Shan District Library yesterday.  It has a small collection of English books including the works of Chairman Mao. 

I can read the USA Today from the nearby Ramada if I so care.

But the best collection of English books in Hui Shan City belongs to me.

Jenny tells me that the people will be moving into the sixth floor tomorrow meaning we won't be alone in our building (#52).

A month ago, I promised to edit and upload the video I had taken at Elsi's wedding.

I finally got around to it last night.  Here it be:

I got an electric bike,

You can't like it if you like,

It's got a container, a horn

and some things that make it look too good for thieves.

I think I will trash it up

so they don't permanently borrow it!

This is the sort of thing that really does not fit into the Environmentalist's world.  A lot of coal has to be burnt to give it electricity.  Imagine how much coal would be needed to power electric cars.  Of course, you could use nuclear power.

I had a bit of a chance to wander about my new neighborhood.  Here are some photos I have taken.

One of my neighbors showed me their new apartment.  Here are photos taken from there.

My neighbors told me about this park nearby.  I rode my electric bike there and here is what I saw.

A spider's web with captured humans.

Finally, I returned home and I took a photo of Hui Shan City's most famous resident.

The KoW tells me that Ronnie's Australian Pub in Wuxi, China has shut down its old and original location.  Said KoW:  "Everything is moving over to Bolters.  The new location (near the Virus Pub) will be open in mid-August."

 It is Sunday.  I have two days off.  What am I going to do?  My first goal is to placate the wife.  After that, I may do a little blogging, a little video editing and take the electric bike for a look-see around Hui Shan City.  But I doubt now if I will have time for those things.  I got to make the wife happy.

Ladies and Gentlemen!  AKIC is proud to present to you:  Wuxi Tony Update One Hundred Thirty.

I came across this useful piece of advice:  breathe.

Here is video proof that my son Anthony Arnis Peng Kaulins can crawl.

His being able to crawl is an additional source of worry for us.  Tony's motivation to move is unexplored drawers where he feels it necessary to rummage and disorganize.

 I am up early this Saturday morning to go to Lu Qu Middle School.  Thankfully, the buses run early here in Hui Shan New City.

Where can you buy pans in Wuxi, China if you have an oven?  I bought one of the glass-resistant glass casserole dishes at a store called Hola in Baoli Mall.  At Metro, I bought a couple of pizza pans.

I have used the oven twice to make some just-a-so-so breaded chicken and pork chops.  As well, the oven we have, which is gas powered, bakes faster than I expected.  The oven doesn't have a temperature setting I am used to so I will have to guess on the baking times for a while.

The KoW is baking up a storm.  It is making many wonder about his manliness.  He should be devoting his genius to crushing paradigms of Wuxi Expats.  Last night, he was making sugar cookies.

The wife of the KoW is engaged in a war against mosquitos which attack constantly their first floor apartment, known as Casa Drummond.  Like George W. Bush, Steph is determined, courageous, single-minded and extremely confident that no matter how long this war lasts, she will prevail and that the suppression of mosquitos at her apartment will improve Hui Shan New City as a whole.  Already, she has had a surge in chemical and weaponry against the evil little critters.  In her just fight, she has her share of nabobs and naysayers and mountebanks who say her surge is bad for the environment and that maybe it would be better to negotiate and talk and try to reason with the mosquitos.

Start having a longer commute to work here in Wuxi, and you are bound to see more crazy things.  Yesterday, I told you how I saw a rear-end collision result in a brawl.  Today, I got a ride from His majesty the King of Wuxi Expatdom and what happened?  We had an electric transformer blow up near us. 

The KoW was driving near the Boston Glory apartment complex in Hui Shan New City when we heard an explosion.  Our initial reaction was that a vehicle had blown up:  the King thought another car; I thought his.  But we quickly realized that the explosion had taken place on overhead wires running along the side of the road.  Thankfully, we were in the left lane and nothing hit us.  The King told me that the explosion scared the heck out of him.

So much for the electrical infrastructure in this town.

The latest WTU was taken on my return from my trip to Shanghai.

All I needed and wanted to do in Shanghai today (Thursday) only really needed a hour but I instead spent six hours in the city.  I got my passport from the consulate, some Shake and Bake meat coating mix for my new oven, and two books (Dickens' Great Expectations and Lu Xun's Old Tales Retold).  I wasted a lot of time in large department stores and malls on a fruitless search for some pans for my new oven which I was to find at the Wuxi Metro in the evening.

I took the 25 bus to the Wuxi train station for my 922 train to Shanghai.  Here is a photo I took waiting for the super quick D train.

I arrived in Shanghai at about 1010 in the morning.

In Shanghai, I hung around Nanjing Road, both near the Canadian Consulate and on the famous walk street.  I took only one photo maybe worthy of publishing in this blog.  (Truth is, there is nothing interesting for me to take photos of Shanghai anymore)  The photo was of course taken on Nanjing Road.

People and traffic:  that is all Shanghai was for me today.  And also incredible large and boring shopping areas.  One department store I went to had 11 floors.  How do they expect shoppers to go so high?

By the way, if you have to go to the Canadian Consulate you can get there by subway.  The #2 Line stops about two blocks away from it.  From the Shanghai train station you can take the #1 line to People's Square and then transfer to the #2 line where you get off at the Nanjing Road stop.

The real action for me Thursday was in Wuxi, both in the morning and the evening.  On the bus ride to the train station, our driver had an argument with a car driver.  Both the bus and the car tried to get into the same lane and neither was willing to yield.  The car was in front and then came to a stop as its driver got out and argued with the driver of the bus.  Eventually, everyone went on their way.  Later that day, on the bus ride back to home (I was fortunate to get back to Wuxi in time to catch the last 25 bus to Hui Shan New City), I saw another bus-car conflict which resulted in physical violence.  A bus rear-ended a car causing all the car's occupants to get out and go after the bus driver.  It was a shame for me that my bus had to pull away but the last thing I saw was a tattooed occupant of the car running up to the bus driver's window and throwing fists at him.   Later that evening, I got to see the King of Wuxi shop at Metro.  Something akin to watching, from the front row, Frank Sinatra perform.

I am off to Shanghai to today to pick up my brand spanking new 48-page passport from the Canadian Consulate.  My train leaves Wuxi at 922 this morning (Thursday).  I have already secured a return ticket.  I should be back in Wuxi by 630 PM.

A little U.S. Election Talk.  What does a community organizer do?  Obama had such a job before he became a U.S. senator.

After two days, I want my new electric bike to go faster. It maxes out at 40 km/h as I might have already said in this blog if not in my other. 40 km/h is fine in the city but when I get out to my suburban neighborhood where there is rarely any other scooters or bicycles to jockey for position with, I need speed.

I keep to the bicycle paths of which there are many in Wuxi. I never realized how annoying it must be to cyclists when pedestrians walk in these paths. Nothing worse than being forced to come to stop by someone loitering and doddering in a bike path.

I stop for red lights which seems puts me in a small minority. I have seen so many scooters ride right through red lights thereby causing cars to swerve so as to avoid collisions. Incredible.

Another thing I see that amazes me is so many cyclists going the wrong way down roads or bike paths. I think these people are taking very unnecessary risks. But the feeling of cyclists that they are somehow immune from the laws for car drivers is universal.  I have seen it in Canada.

Since it is the rainy season in Wuxi now, I won't take photos of the route I take home. But rest assured rare readers, whether here or in my other blog, you will see interesting photos as soon as weather permits. My ride home, for instance, has me crossing a kilometre long bridge over a busy waterway.

I have never seen an area so full of buildings and yet so seemingly absent of people. I hope that the Hui Shan New City does not become a classic case of government overdevelopment.

I saw USA Fred yesterday at Wuxi, China's Seagate location.  We were representing our respective schools for a graduation ceremony and each had to make speeches.  Fred was the star of this video where he was speechless.

Price Water House says China should win the most medals in 2008.

I will be busy the rest of this week.  I have my company class Timken to work on.  I will go to a middle school called Lu Qu to teach some classes.  I will go to Shanghai to pick up my new 48 page Canadian passport. 

All this  will involve me getting up very early.  So I hope I will have some time to do another one of these WTU's before Saturday.  I made this one Tuesday night.

I did it.  I have survived my first trip to work with the electric bicycle I bought yesterday.  It remains to be seen how I make out on my trip home tonight.  I hope it does not rain.

It is a cliche to say it, but I will say it anyway:  Riding an electric bicycle, I have a new perspective on Wuxi traffic.  Most things I did anticipate.  People coming from any direction at any time means you have to be always on your toes.  But what really struck me today is how pedestrians are such pains in the asses when they walk in the bicycle paths.  And if they walk three abreast, you want to run them down in frustration.  As it was, I narrowly avoided striking one pedestrian as I had to quickly swerve to avoid them.

I have problems with the electric bike because the accelerator is on the right handle.  It has always been my habit to clutch at the handles whenever I am pushing a bicycle or trying to come to a stop.  But with an Electric bicycle, this can mean unplanned lurches if I don't check myself.  The first time I pushed the Electric bike yesterday, it always ran away from me because the ignition was on and so when I grabbed the handle I pressed the accelerator causing a lurch.  I have to learn as well to only brake with one hand.  Having the habit of using both brake handles to stop may not be so bad on a normal pedal bicycle but on an electric bicycle, it can be deadly because the scooter may stop as you want it to.  Again this morning, I had a scary moment when I lurched into traffic unexpectedly.

The bike maxes out at 40 km/h.  In open space, it simply wasn't fast enough for me this morning.  I already want to buy a Harley.

It is hardest to drive the scooter downtown.  There are simply too many people.

I bought the bike at Carrefour, Baoli.  I bought the biggest bike with the most battery power I could find.  I will park it underground at the apartment complex.    They have a place where I can plug it in overnight to recharge for free. 

We bought the scooter this afternoon at Baoli.  The plan was for me to drive it home, but after doing the test drive, I thought it best I get some practice in first.  So Jenny is driving it home.  My first press of the accelerator, during the test drive, saw me damn near run someone over.  Here in Huishan, the traffic is light so it would be great to practice here; unlike around Baoli where I would have had my first ride in rush hour traffic. 

I got an email from John Derbyshire!  Which is a big thrill for me.  For those ignorant ones who don't know who John Derbyshire is, I will make this analogy to explain the thrill I feel:  Imagine for instance, you get an email from Evelyn Waugh or Florence King or Christopher Hitchens.  Now if you don't know any of these people, you are beyond help.  There is nothing else I can do for you to explain the thrill.

Some may ask is it comparable to the tingle in the leg you get when you here an Obama speech?  Of course not.  People who get tingles in their legs listening to Obama speeches are like the empty headed girl in the Evelyn Waugh novel who falls for a man who sends her plagarized poetry.  Also those people are like sheep.  So it is not an apt analogy at all.

See what a ten month old Toner looks like.

Tony is ten months old today (Monday).  Last evening, he was standing unsupported for up to ten seconds.  He was also making efforts to walk unsupported as well.  He can stand and move while leaning against the side of the sofa for support.  When he sees something interesting, he will without thinking walk toward it.  He often falls after one step, but last night he was able to run into his Daddy's arms which took four.  The Wife and I are fairly confident he will be begin walking before his first birthday.

Here is the Toner on August 23, 2007.

Here he is this morning of June 23.

I dare not wake him up for as much as he amazes us with his development, he tires the heck out of us.

Last night, I was able to watch the first two episodes of the highly-praised John Adams series, which is about the American Revolution.  I highly enjoyed what I saw.  The founding of the U.S.A. is so well-known that I had taken it for granted that there was nothing new to learn from it.  But as I have gotten older, I have come to the conclusion that the founding fathers of America were wise and practically geniuses, and I also regard what happened in the 1770s as a rare achievement that the rest of the world, try as it might, has not quite learned from, even as they try to implement a template of the American founding on their nations.  The John Adams series brings this to life.  The gaining of American independence was an exciting affair not only of battles but of ideas.  The John Adams series, in showing the debates of that time, shows how not so cut-and-day the debates were, and what tough decisions the American founding fathers had to make. 

John Derbyshire, an arch conservative Englishman living in America, married to a Chinese woman.  In this article, he talks about breakfast, both his and his wife's.  He mentions you tiao when I have developed a liking for.  He mentions that they taste particularly good if they are toasted in the oven.  Now that I have an oven, I can test this proposition out.

I took the #25 bus my home in the Huishan New City yesterday afternoon.

Just after getting off the bus, a young couple, of whom the wife could speak English, introduced themselves to me.  They asked if I lived in the "California" apartment complex and I responded in the affirmative.  I learned from them that we are neighbors.  I immediately invited them to my apartment to meet the wife and the Toner. 

Cecilia and her husband both have jobs near our apartment complex.  Cecilia works in the front office of the Ramada.  Her husband works in a nearby police station.  As their decoration is being held up by the fact that they can't paint the walls during the rainy season, they are staying at the Police station where the Husband has a room. 

They will be good people to know.  Cecilia's connections at the Ramada will be helpful to us.  And having lived here a while, they know the area.  For instance, Cecilia informed me that there is a library nearby our apartment complex that has a selection of foreign books.

Cecilia, incidentally, does not know the song by Simon & Garfunkel.  All Chinese girls, who take that English name, never do. 

Another incidentally: while I ask Chinese women if they have heard of the famous song that their English name reminds me of; the King of Wuxi only asks all the people he meets if they have heard the song "Pork Chops with Apple Sauce and Mashed Potatoes".  I have no idea why he does this.

I was able to get a seat on the bus yesterday!  So, I could read on public transit:  something that supporters of public transit say you can do; although in reality it rarely can be done.

Tomorrow (Monday), the plan is to buy my electric bicycle.

Will someone beat Russia in Euro 2008!  Please!  I just found out they beat the Netherlands.  Son of a bitch!

Crtiical times for critical thinking.  Interesting article.

The Olympic Torch is in Tibet.