We went to a studio to take photos for Tony's first birthday.  Of course, I will put them in this blog.

 

You can hardly see my bald spot.  And my arms look big....

 

 

Unlike this photo.....

 

And you can't see the fungus on my toes.

 

 

In front of Ba Bai Ban, there was an underwear show with models.  Below are the photos I was able to take.

 

 

 

First, I see a Praying Mantis, now I see this one hundred leg monstrosity at my new apartment complex.

 

 

 

 

 

300,000 views on my Youtube channel.

 

I took Tony for a walk around the apartment complex Sunday afternoon.  I came upon a praying mantis sitting on a rock.  It was six foot long, less and less.

 

 

It was good to see that Tony is learning to appreciate the admiration he receives from the ladies.

 

 

That is the cleaning and sales staff of our apartment complex that you can see Tony interacting with above. 

 

This video of mine has now been seen over 100,000 times on Youtube.

 

 

 

 

 And since there is a praying insect in this blog entry, I figure, what the hay, I will do some praying myself.  So, to the powers that be, I hope you can see to it that the good are rewarded and the evil bad punished, the abolition of the wild card in Major League Baseball, that there is an Obama defeat in the U.S. election, that there will be a Conservative majority in the Canadian Election, that there will be a Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup victory in 2009, that Tony will be of sound mind and body, that the King of Wuxi, China Expats will live a long time, and Wuxi has more good bread readily available.  Amen.

 

Who won the the first Dumb and Dumber debate?  Looking on the Internet, it seems that they both won decisively and lost and talked to a draw.  Take your pick.

 

What to do about the Financial crisis in America?  Nothing.  That seems to be the best option.  To do nothing and gut out the necessary market adjustments is something I wish politicians had the courage to do, but like the scared cowards that most of them are, they will give into the panicked urge to do something even though there is no proof that anything they would do could help.

 

In this Wuxi Tony Update, I held my son in my arms for almost the entire video.  This is surely historical and shows the WTU nay sayers that the series is always fresh and willing to go where no other Internet Baby Updates Series dare.

 

So Ladies and Gerebongs, Andis Kaulins in China: a Wuxi Blog proudly presents one of the latest episodes of the most cutting-edge and dynamic and avant-garde (without being left-wing) Baby series ever made:  Wuxi Tony Update One Hundred Ninety Nine. 

 

 

 

 

See what I have to deal with on a daily basis.

 

I was at the Taihu Hotel tonight.  You can go to other places on the web to see why I was there.

Here is a photo of one of the lobbies in the Taihu Hotel.

 

 

His majesty, the King of Wuxi, China Expatdom, watched the U.S. presidential debate this morning and had this to say about it:  "I can drink a liter of Taihu Lake Water and make my backside spout more sense than that coot and clown can with their mouths.  I never should have abandoned my campaign!"

 

Connie, who is a rare reader of this blog and a student at our school, is also a brilliant golfer.  She won the mini-putt tournament held Friday night at HyLite.

Here she is celebrating her victory.

 

Congratulations Connie!  Good things happen to AKIC readers!

 

At the start of the latest episode of the Wuxi Tony Update series; simply the greatest series of anything available, anywhere, anyhow, anywho; I pose a tough quiz question in the style of Jeopardy.  But don't be confused, you are watching one hundred percent genuine WTU.  Also, the hair you see on the leg was not transplanted from Alex Trebik's mustache. 

So here you go, Ladies and Gents, Lads and Lassies, Boys and Girls, Republicans and Dumocrats, America-lovers and haters, Yings and Yangs, Ricers and Noodlers, Mods and Rockers, Men and Women, Upside-downers and Supply-siders, Vegans and Meat-eaters, et cetera and so on, here is Wuxi Tony Update One Hundred Ninety Eight (Two times Ninety Nine)...

 

 

 

 

These are bad times for the Chinese milk industry.  The leaders who won't be sacked or executed because of the current milk-powder scandal will face penury because their most major customer has sworn off milk.  In an exclusive interview, with AKIC, his majesty, the King of Wuxi Expatdom announced that his house is now milk-free.  "We returned the milk we had bought to Carrefour and we won't have any milk till that industry gets its' act together."  The KoW's consumption of milk had previously accounted for 75 percent of the industry's sale volume.

When asked what he would do without milk, the King of Wuxi broke into song:

I'll have Pork Chops and Apple Sauce!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Yum Yum Yum!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

It's a lot of fun!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

We stand on guard for thee!

With glowing hearts we see the rise of...

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

And the rocket's red glare,

the Bombs bursting in air

Gave truth to the deliciousness of

Pork chops and Apple Sauce!

Yum Yum!

 

I haven't got much to say today.  I will let the photos I took on my scooter ride to work this morning do the talking.

 

The last photo was taken near Baoli.

 

I took Tony for a walk this morning and this is what I saw.

Construction on the third phase of the complex.

 

 

Turning leftwards from the above view, I see this.

 

 

At a playground, I saw this.

 

 

It was all good at the playground till someone let their baby piss on the playground Astroturf.

 

There were some very decadent movies made where it can be said that a movie star got his drunken buddies together and they made a movie for major cinematic release.  This is definitely not one of those types of movies though it should be released on 100,000 screens simultaneously all over the world.

So, my friends and rare readers and people who are indifferent about me, Andis Kaulins in China is proud to present Wuxi Tony Update One Hundred Ninety Seven: the fourth and last official video of Wuxi Tony's 2008 Nanjing Tour.

 

 

 

 

None of these people below are friends of Tony.

 

 

I saw these posters in a restaurant in Nanjing.  The only other time I saw this sort of thing was in a primary school in Wuxi.

 

 

This video, short and sweet, was taken in Nanjing.

 

 

 

There is a fountain scene in the famous Italian movie La Dolce Vita, right?  Well, there is a fountain scene in Wuxi Tony Update One Hundred Ninety Five, as well, which was taken in downtown Nanjing.  Here she be, Folks.....

 

 

 

 

Sunday, the Kaulins Family went to the Ikea in Nanjing.  I took some photos and at a whole lot of the 3 rmb hot dogs.

This interesting structure is in a park across the street from Ikea.

 

Here is the front of the store.

 

 

The flags of Sweden and the PRC.

 

 

Tony had a good time at Ikea.

 

 

He enjoyed opening drawers.

 

 

Pulling off price tags.

 

 

Playing hide and seek.

 

 

Ikea, to their credit, tries to battle kids who want to do this by sticking this play kiosks throughout the store.  You can see Tony experimenting with them below.

 

 

But Tony quickly would lost interest and started playing with other things.

 

 

 

 

My wife took these photos.  Tony went away to play.

 

My son Tony, a leading Wuxi, China Expat, is not very good on the train.  He can be a downright nuisance because he don't much like sitting still for anybody or anything. 

Monday afternoon, my beautiful wife Jenny was losing the fight against my handsome son Tony who screamed at her efforts to make him sit still.  Screaming babies on any sort of train or bus or plane is most annoying to all who are the not the parents.  So, on the train, Tony was earning us icy stares.  My wife spanked him in frustration but that only made him scream all the more and garnered us more cold stares. 

So once I finished reading the story of the Secret Garden in the Wordsworth Edition of The Selected Works of Father Brown of G.K. Chesterton, I took Tony from my wife and carried him to the bathroom and exit/entrance area of the railcar we were in.  There, I let Tony stare out the window at the passing scenery (if you could call piles of rubble and garbage interspersed with dilapidated housing scenery).  I must admit I enjoyed the vantage point and made a mental note to next time bring a camera with me.  Tony was not so keen, still preferring the local to the sublime or beautiful.  That is, he was more interested in playing with the fire extinguishers than looking out the window.

By the way, Father Brown is Catholic propaganda, but be that as it may, I always enjoy reading Chesterton who has a meandering way of expressing the paradox of life.  Said Chesterton:  "Wisdom should reckon on the unforeseen."  A perfect way of thinking about how to respond to the financial crisis.  Politicians should admit they can't control the unforeseen and stop pinning the blame on their opponents for not being able to control it either.

 

I am back in Wuxi in time to teach some classes Monday evening and do a little blogging.  I took the 250 PM Monday train back to Wuxi and it arrived in Wuxi at 400 PM.

Since this entry is just to keep the blog current, I will tell you now that I will talk about my visit to Nanjing over the next few days. 

I made about four Wuxi Tony Updates including the one below which was taken on our visit to the new Nanjing Ikea.  My wife loves Ikea.  She went twice during her week in Nanjing and now I have a big bag of stuff to get home tonight.

 

 

 

I will also publish a few photos of Tony in Nanjing.  Below, you can see him wandering around Xinjiekou.

 

 

The photo above was so hard to take because Tony does not like to stand still for any period of time equivalent to the length of time it takes me to set up my camera.

 

 

Here is a blog from Xinjiang I recommend all rare AKIC readers give a look now and then and everyday.  Xinjiang, as you will see and may already know, is a great source of fine cuisine and blogging.

 

I am going to Nanjing on Saturday night so this may be my last blog entry till Tuesday so I will leave you with a fantastic Wuxi Tony Update Double Bill.  I believe that the videos I am providing are of such an epic quality you may well mix them up with Lawrence of Arabia.  I thank you in advance for thinking such things but please don't get more confused than I have already made you.

So, Readers Extraordinary, I proudly leave you with the latest two episodes of what I know to be the best Baby Update Series on the Internet:  Wuxi Tony Updates One Hundred Ninety Two and One Hundred Ninety Three...

 

In WTU 192, Tony and I go to the Ramada Plaza near our apartment.  The Ramada that no one knows about is big as you will see when you watch this video.  It is also a perfect contrast to WTU 191.

 

 

 

 

In WTU 193, Tony and I hang out on the street just in front of our apartment.

 

 

 

 

On Monday, the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, I took my son Tony for a walk in the Wuxi, China countryside near my apartment in the Hui Shan Economic Development Area.  We did not meet the devil or death but we saw a lot of algae.

Ladies and Gentiles and Wuxi China Expats, Andis Kaulins in China: A Wuxi Blog Productions proudly presents Wuxi Tony Update One Hundred Ninety One, the third latest episode of the greatest, most consequential, financial crisis proof, Internet Baby Update that ever was and ever will be. 

 

 

 

 

For those of you who like this sort of thing, and I know that there are many Wuxi Expats who do, you can see and hear chickens in this video.