Shanghai Video

Finally! I got the video uploaded from the Shanghai trip. It's in HD, so it should look OK on full-screen. Check it out here: Shanghai Video

2016 LSW Wreath Auction

This was JP's 3rd year as chairperson for the LSW Speech/Debate Team Wreath Auction. This year it was much less hectic in the weeks before than the last two times. 

We had a good turnout at the Lodge at Wilderness Ridge. I think of the 140 tickets sold, 90+ showed up for yummy hors d'ouvres.

Madame Chairperson

It's all in the name of supporting these kids and their teammates.

Killer Kitty

When it gets cold outside, the mice want inside. Unfortunately for them, V really likes to hunt, play with, and kill them. We found mouse #1's lifeless carcass when we returned from Thanksgiving. It had crawled under the utility room door and expired there. The photo above is mouse #2. V got it during the night and she was in the middle of the living room floor with her present for me in the morning. She was VERY excited about it. Meow Meow MEOW meow myow! GP is completely amazed that our cute and cuddly little cat is such a vicious and cold blooded killer.

We (JP mostly) began an exhaustive search of the house for more signs of mice. We found where they had chewed through a crack just above the foundation in the storage room. We left the door to the room open, put the cats in the basement, and closed the basement door at night and let nature sort herself out. In the morning all we found was a small pile of cat puke with little bits of grey fur and some tiny intestines. Not sure which one ate it, but that was the end of our mouse problem for this year.

Of course, we needed to make sure there weren't any more, so we spent all day last weekend emptying out the entire storeroom and throwing out anything with mouse turds on it. I lost my backpacking pack and sleeping bag. The boys lost some of their old toys. JP would be happy if we pitched all of it.

Elfie Selfie - Or Where Did November Go?

The blog has been running a bit behind this fall due to a general lack of free time. Starting at the end of October, I had the week-long show in Louisville. Two weeks later was a weeklong trip to Shanghai. Back to work for two days, and then off for five days to IL for thanksgiving. We got back on a Sunday and the next day I was back on a plane. In O'Hare, I spied Elf walking around and he was fired up to grant me an Elfie Selfie. My traveling companions (my boss included) didn't get it. From Chicago, it was on to Kohler/Sheboygan for a day, then drive across WI to Minneapolis for a full day's meeting. Back in the office for three days, and then on the road again to Grand Rapids. This week I have zero trips and am actually taking today off so that I can get caught up on home life.

Shanghai!

In November, I went to Shanghai for a week (for work). It was hectic at work and I didn't have time to do anything. When I printed out my boarding passes, I neglected to see that they were being sent to the marketing printer, in color, and on 11x17 paper. They sat in the printer all afternoon, so everyone walking past got a chuckle and gave me a hard time. The TSA agents also got a kick out of them.

The trip from Lincoln to Minneapolis to Seattle to Shanghai takes about 24 hours to complete. The flight across the Pacific is 13 hours. There's a 10 hour time shift; the jetlag makes for a swirly trip. By the end of the week, I was sleeping thru the night, only to return home for another 10 hour time warp. We got home on a Saturday night at 10 PM and had all day to recover Sunday.

Once we got thru immigration and customs, we took the Maglev train at 300 kph (188 mph) for 8 minutes (it's only a prototype section of rail line) to another station where we tried out the Shanghai subway for the first time. From there it was 45 minutes to the station closest to our hotel on Nanjing Road, which is a beautiful pedestrian walkway. By the time we got there our heads were spinning.

We on a Saturday night. Sunday, we went on a three-hour walking street food tour with a group of six other tourists. It was awesome food, and we got to see a little bit of China away from the neon lights of where we were staying. After the tour, we took the subway to the old original part of Shanghai. There was a ton of shopping, plus we toured the Yu Garden, a 17th century retreat built by a city patriarch. From Yu Garden, we walked to the riverfront and gawked at the buildings. The building on the right in the photo below is the Shanghai Tower. At 2,000 feet in height, it dwarfs the others that are still actually taller than the Sears Tower in Chicago. The building with the hole in it is 1,600 feet tall!!

Monday we visited a supplier north of the city and continued on to Nantong to see another supplier on Tuesday. From there, we drove five hours south to Hangzhou, where the G20 summit was held a couple months earlier. I went there last year and was amazed at the improvements that had been made in one short year. From Hangzhou, we did a day trip to Ningbo to visit a casting supplier and machine shop. 

To get back to Shanghai, we took a bullet train at 180 mph to the Hongqiao train/airport/subway station and then took the subway from there back to the hotel. Last time I was there, a seasoned China traveler advised me that the secret to traveling is to go superlight: "Book your hotels with at least two nights so that you can get clothes cleaned." We had a one-night stay in Nantong, so instead of packing only two sets of clothes, I had to pack three. Everything fit easily into a normal sized carry-on bag. We didn't have to check any bags on the airlines, and the smaller size really helped out when navigating the subways and sidewalks.

We arrived back in Shanghai to our original hotel on Thursday afternoon. Every night since we arrived, we had eaten like kings as the guests of our suppliers. Every lunch was a huge meal, as was every dinner. We were tired of eating twenty different foods at each meal. so when we had the opportunity to eat on our own, it was simple noodles.

In Shanghai, there are a fair amount of Westerners, but not a lot. Along the waterfront everyone is a tourist, and everyone is taking selfies with the tall buildings in the background. Trying to be polite, we would try to get out of people's selfie backgrounds. We were surprised that people would move to keep us in their picture frame - they wanted us in their pics. Once we figure this out, we had fun posing with the locals in their selfies and snapshots.

Friday after we visited our final supplier, we packed up for the return journey the next morning and then took our Chinese corporate colleagues out for dinner. This time it was on us: PIZZA! We found an authentic Italian place on the rvierfront that served up so very tasty pizza and microbrew beer. Our Chinese friends were shocked to learn that we (Americans) eat cheese daily. Dairy isn't a food group there.

As I mentioned, we got around everywhere via subway. It took a couple minutes the first time to figure out how it all works, but from then on, it was cruiser. The trains and stations were clean and safe (and sometimes crowded) and we treated each ride as an adventure.

Additional photos are on Google Photos in an album here: China Album

Glitter Houses

JP built a town of glitter houses again this year for the LSW Speech Team Wreath Auction. She's been working on them for months.

Thankful for Old Friends

For Black Friday, we journeyed to Woodstock to see our old friends in Woodstock. We went to the Deer Park mall to hit Restoration Hardware, but found that it's gone. Only online sales for them from now on. It was JP's favorite store there.

The kids have known each other since birth. Won't be long and they'll all be gone away to school.

The Nebraska - Iowa game is always the day after Thanksgiving. This year I got to catch three minutes of it at the bar in the restaurant where we ate. Maybe some year we'll be able to see it in its entirety.

Thanksgiving 2016

We made the trek across the exciting plains from Nebraska to Illinois for Thanksgiving. Truly riveting scenery along the way, to be sure!

W the Cat is as fluffy as ever. 

Another awesome dinner with S & BD and family. What a fun bunch to hang out with.

Nana and her tall boys.

If the Box Fits I Sits

The fastest way to find a cat is to throw an empty box on the floor. Within seconds it will be occupied.

Don't Blame Us

CP was fired up to vote this year. Both boys were very engaged in the whole election process and its associated carnival. We were all devastated with the outcome. At least Nebraska was able to split its electoral votes, so CP's vote was not wasted. Out of Nebraska's 93 counties, all but two were red. Lancaster County was solid blue, thanks in part to our new voter.

Little Pecker

We had a new customer at the birdfeeder - some sort of tiny woodpecker. The birdfeeder has been the best $20 we've spent in a long time.

Cubs Win!

New Roof

Our 12 year old hail damaged roof is gone and replaced with a nice new one that hopefully does not leak. We were worried about the color of the shingles - how can you tell what an entire roof will look like from just a 4" x 4" sample?

Lap Dog

We babysat our friends' dog. Despite missing his family, he doesn't mind being part of ours. He has to be touching someone at all times.

CO2

We received a package that had some dry ice in it. GP played with it all afternoon. Now we know what to get him for Christmas.

GIE 2016

The GIE/Expo show is an annual gathering of landscape equipment in Louisville, Kentucky. All forty commercial lawn mower manufacturers were there, as well as a few hundred other companies that make other sorts of equipment. We had booths both inside and out with a ton of equipment.

I was amazed at how many teenage contractors are out there. These are fourteen year old kids that have been cutting lawns and are moving up into our mowers. They can't drive and have no credit, but are able to pay cash for a $10,000 mower. 

The show is open to the public for only two days. It rained all day on the first day and turned the outdoor exhibit into a mud bog. 50°, no sun, and a stiff breeze on the second day. Brrrr.

Fall Colors

This fall is more colorful than years past. Our maples are brighter than ever. 

The burning bush is on fire.

Crapper Bolts

The toilet in the basement started getting wobbly. We went to tighten up its mounting bolts and found that one of them was broken. So much for plastic bolts. Once we got the bowl up, we saw that not only was one of the bolts broken, but also the PVC flange was cracked. Fortunately, we were able to find a fix-it kit at the Home Depot that was specifically designed to fix our exact problem.

We also fixed the drywall around the water pipe, which has been bugging me since day one, and JP is trying out new colors on the walls.

More Volume

A couple months ago, I traded in my old pedal board for a new (to me) used one specifically designed for the bass. It's awesome! It has a zillion knobs and buttons and the manual is like a book. In order to set up the effects, you have to sit down on the floor and grind thru all the settings, one knob at a time. 

I had a free chunk of time one night to play around with it, so I dragged up everything (pedalboard, power supply, bass, cables, and headphones) from the basement and took up residence on the living room floor. I got everything plugged in and then noticed that the volume knob for the headphones wasn't working. Arrgh.

I scrounged around and found an old potentiometer from another project and three hours later was back in business just in time for bed.

18

For CP's 18th birthday, we hit downtown for his favorite place: Blue Sushi. 18!!! Still can't believe it.

CP loves sushi of all kinds. His favorite is eel. We're keeping our eyes open for cheap tickets to Japan for a post-graduation trip next summer. Both boys applied for their passports this week.

Rot

Fall is our home touch-up time. Not too hot. Dry. Sunny. Perfect.

My objective was to paint the trim around the front and back doors. At the back door, there was a little bit of paint missing, so I started with the scraper there. The scraper sunk into what looked like normal wood. Arrrrg! It turned into a weekend-long adventure of dismantling the door frame and cleaning out rotted wood. V shot out every chance she could. L was content laying in the sun and watching me work.

The wood says "TREATED", yet it was as rotten as the normal wood.

Hot Toddy

Last week I caught the bug that's been going around since school started. I ended up staying home for a day, which happens less frequently than blue moons. GP came home from school later that day with the same thing. JP cooked up a big cauldron of her chicken soup and then she made me a real hot toddy: Half a cup hot water, 1 tablespoon honey, some lemon juice, and 1 shot of whiskey. Mmmm.

Honor Roll

CP landed himself on the honor roll again. It's nice that he's a senior; don't have to wait to go thru the other grades. 

Homecoming 2016

Despite not having dates, the boys went to Homecoming and had fun. CP danced all night with his friends. Said he they got in trouble for dancing on the tables. GP hasn't yet discovered that he likes dancing.

It was so cool to watch the boys drive off together by themselves. While we watched the Huskers beat Northwestern, we kept waiting for them to come home early. Then we watched the late games and kept waiting... Then we got tired and wanted to go to bed, but the boys still weren't home. They ended up staying for the entire dance and didn't come home til 11:00.

Accepted!

CP has been officially accepted into the UNL Engineering College! He still needs to apply to a couple more schools.