I can't help myself.  Plus it keeps his Canadian grandparents updated. 

See you at the pub tonight!!

The King of Wuxi held a surprising and dramatic news conference in downtown Wuxi today.  He answered no questions.  He made the following statement:

Thank you for coming.  An enormous cloud has descended over Wuxi Expatdom for which my actions in a public bathroom at the House of Pancakes on Pembina Highway in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada are to blame.  I don't understand how I missed.  It is something I haven't done since I was drunk at Ronnie's in Wuxi, China.  And when you consider that I have such a wide stance, a stance that is wider than the average WC, my aim is exceptionably good.  However, I do regret my attempts to deny I had made the mess on the floor to the staff at the House of Pancakes.  And of course I also regret the strong words I shouted at a female who saw my accident.  The B Eye Itch was right to scream at me. 

So now that we have closure, I suggest to all Wuxi Expats to look forward, don't look back and put this trivial incident behind us all.

I also wish to announce as a way of pre-empting  future controversies that I am a heterosexual.  I love my wife and my son in the way a good heterosexual father and husband should.

Again, I thank you for coming.

The King quickly ran to his car as onlookers shouted: "You fixed the election!" ; "You cast not a cloud but a big shadow over us all!" and "Democracy! Not Lard!"

Here are a few more photos of Tony taken in the apartment today.

In the first photo, Tony seems to be looking at me in a quizzical manner wondering what I am doing.  But does he really see?

In the second photo, Mrs. K takes a well-deserved afternoon nap.

Tony also makes an appearance in Vlog #18. 

John Derbyshire, was browsing through a collection of essays of George Orwell, and came upon the essay "Boys' Weeklies".  The essay, that scoffed at the stories published in boys' magazines, provoked a response from the author of many of the stories, Frank Richards.  This response was so well-done that it was included in an anthology that was exclusively about Orwell.  And reading it, I think Richards had the better of Orwell.  This essay and the response have lead Derb to produce a rousing essay of his own:  When Foreigners were Funny.  Derbyshire also makes reference and links to a 1976 National Lampoon article Foreigners Around the World.  I found the latter laugh-out loud funny though it would be politically incorrect to admit it.

This was taken in the hospital. 

This was taken at the apartment.

Anthony or Tony has a serious-seeming expression in this photo.  I am hoping he has some Churchillian iron resolve in his eventual character.

Oh my god!  I just realized that Tony Robbins name has a Tony in it.  Yuck!

Anthony Hopkins.  He has had his moments as an actor. 

But than there is Tony Perkins.  He played Norman Bates in Psycho.  Maybe the look I see above is the cold stare of a tough guy.

Speaking of coldness, my wife just told me that while she was in the hospital, a girl baby was abandoned.  The mother, who had gone to the hospital by herself, said she was going downstairs to pay the hospital bill and didn't return.  If the mother didn't return in another 12 hours, the hospital would have to call the police.

I can't say Tony is back home.  He is in the Mianhua Xiang apartment that we plan to move out of in late September.

I had an annoying afternoon, trying to get the birth certificate.  We have to go back to the hospital tomorrow.  You can read all about it in AKIC myspace.

Where will Tony sleep in his first night away from the hospital?  He will sleep with us.  We haven't gotten around to building the crib.

The wife is in a tired and grumpy mood.  But I don't blame her.  It has been an exhausting week for her on top on the exhausting nine months before it.  She still is sore all over.

Here is the daily Tony photo.  Children are beautiful when they are asleep.

Here are some lyrics for a famous song about a Tony.  I saw Frank Sinatra sing it on a TV show with Ella.

Mothers lock your daughters in It's to late to talk to them 'Cause Tony Rome is out and about And Tony Rome will get 'em If you don't watch out ...

Tony leaves the hospital tomorrow.  Long sleepless nights but I will have a comfortable to lie in.

Who is the Tony who came to mind before Tony K?  Tony Esposito, the coolest hockey goalie of all time.  Hockey Goalies ceased to be cool when the wire-helmet hybrid mask became the mask of choice.  Granted, the new style is better from a safety and a range-of-vision standpoint, but aesthetically it sucks. 

Tony weighed more at birth than I initially reported.  I was told his weight in jin.  7.2 jin is 3.6 kg is 8 lb.  Way to go Tony!   Thanks to Simon's wife Nicole for pointing this out to me.  Nothing I like better than revising good news so that it is better.

Speaking of Tony, here is a picture of him and his mother taken last night.

Isn't he cute?  I can't think of a way to express how happy he makes me feel when I look at him.  But damn it!  He is awesome.

The past five days hasn't just been about staring at the baby.  Being the father, you spend a lot of time waiting and looking at things.  Being on the ninth floor of the hospital, I had a good view of Wuxi including the downtown and the area around Xihui Park.  Here are a couple photos I took of interesting and curious things.

I don't know if you can see but it looks like they are building a tunnel.

Below you can see an interesting way to get rid of old vehicles.

Put then on the roof.  Out of side; out of mind.  Those vehicles could not have been driven up there.

And of course I have another video on Youtube of the little guy, Tony K, Boy Tony or whatever I can think to call him. 

My wife and son are doing well.  Tony, right now, wants to eat in the evening and sleep in the daytime.  I slept all this afternoon in preparation.

Does he look like me?  I can't tell.  My wife, after breastfeeding him, has told me that Tony has a big mouth like me.  From the above photo, you can see he has my big forehead.

Youtube bug that I am, it would be strange if there were no videos of Tony and Jenny on the Internet.  Here they are:

Digital shutter bug that I am, I am having a difficult time deciding which photos of my newborn baby to publish to this blog.  I will try to restrict myself to five.

For me, this is the money shot.   

Also, I have three albums of photos on facebook.  Click here, here and here.  You may need a facebook i.d. to see them.

I have a special announcement to make.

And I have some special photos.

Here's Tony!

He was born at 210 PM on August 23.  He weighed 7.2 pounds.

The wife and son are resting comfortably.

I couldn't be happier.

Jenny was feeling contractions and then she wasn't.  So now we are in a waiting mode.  I have been playing games on the mobile phone and taking photos from the ninth floor.

The wife is in this building.

Here is the view from the ninth floor.

The two photos below show the mountains of Xihui Park.

Below, you can see the downtown Wuxi skyline. 

The wife woke me up at 500 AM this morning.  She wanted to go to the hospital because of certain symptoms.  I was in a daze and an are-you-sure mood.  I had been expecting him to come maybe next week or the week after.  I was also thinking I should have been in a more of a oh-my-God-this-it manner, but I felt circumspect.

So, out of the apartment we went at 530 AM to quiet Wuxi streets.  I must remember to try to be up that early all the time.  So quiet and deserted did it seem.  We caught a taxi.  In the haste of the moment, something was forgotten in the apartment.  As the taxi past Xi Hui on the way to #4 People's Hospital, the wife exclaimed shit! as she realized she had forgotten her paperwork. 

At the emergency section of the hospital we registered but not before I made a return trip to home to get the paperwork.  I didn't like leaving the wife in the emergency ward by herself but it had to be done.  Once I returned with the paperwork and the wife was processed, they put her a wheelchair and pushed her to the ninth floor of the main building at the #4.  The little man pushing her was quick.  I had to run after to keep up.

After an examination in the ninth floor baby ward, they put her in a room.  She is in one of those public rooms with six beds.  Every five minutes or so, the men get kicked out of the ward as the nurses do something with one of the women.  Jenny's mother is now there with her.  Mama responded quickly to Jenny's early morning summons.  I am at home now resting and blogging.  I will return later today to the hospital with all her things.  No idea when Tony will come but my wife is now the hospital till he does.

From the National Post comes this story:

People raised in individualist cultures such as North America are less able to imagine the world from someone else's perspective than people raised in collectivist cultures such as China, according to new research.

China is collectivist?  This story sounds like a lot of horse hockey.

As promised..

Below is the corner of Zhongshan and Renmin Roads.

The great wall of blocks from another angle.

If the King of Wuxi ever lowered himself to write a blog he should call it Robert Andrew Drummond in China and Lard.  He is an expert on these two things.

I have received a report that Fred was playing poker last night at the Hoff brew house.

Happy Chinese Valentine's Day Ladies.  As a special gift, I will post more photos of Zhongshan Road construction.

From the Wall Street Journal: Looking East: Reliable guides to China and its history.