mtbdude

what state are you in? i think we need to start getting some help too.

howdy ed, yan zi took lessons in chengdu, which had to help -- she had never driven either, so i was thinking the same like you. she hasn't started lessons since she got to calif though. passed the written last month and she's scouting out the driver training schools. steve

thanks for all of the suggestions. i'll start shopping. one thing i said in my original post was inaccurate -- they will raise the rate when she gets her license, not her permit.

hi carl, what company, if you don't mind my asking? i'm dealing with nationwide. steve

wonderful! congratulations!!!

just called my auto insurance to get an idea what it will cost to add yan zi when she starts driving lessons. since we only have one car right now, she will be rated on that one, and they're quoting me a premium of around $1,800 every six months for the both of us. right now for just me it's a little over $600. they told me that the car model makes a pretty big difference, and that i happen to be driving one that is one of the highest cost to insure because they get stolen so much. so i can see that part of the solution would be getting her rated in the right car. i'm just wondering what anyone else's experience is with this. a couple of the 001 girls are telling yan zi that their husbands didn't even report them to their insurance company, but they are driving the car. that sounds very risky to me. i'd like to hear how you all are dealing with this situation.

ranchod's partner bobby chung did our k-1 application. his ability to speak mandarin was really helpful.

you asked for it. on one of my trips i had a 5-day bout with mao's revenge, which was ultimately only cured with antibiotics. anyway, after a strenuous "work out" i was very apprieciative of that shower-toilet arrangement. better than a bidet.

that's something that struck yan zi, for sure! she's been here for 6 weeks now, and so i've asked her several times if anything here suprises her. she says, nothing really. before this army of winter storms came marching through, she was amazed at how sunny and clear it is here. chengdu is shrouded in perma-cloud. i think the movies and media do give a good general sense of what it is here, even if specific things are overstated. i was totally clueless about china on my first couple of trips. was expecting a chairman mao era version. i was reminded of him often, as i frequently handed over those portraits of him printed in red ink.

doesn't the letter "a" show up in 101? one hundred and one.

the one here in so cal wasn't bad at all. i think they said a 4 on the richter. epicenter about 20 miles from here (riverside). what i felt could have been mistaken for moon's burrito after-effects, without the air pollution, thank you. radio said the 4 was at 4:30 a.m., and a 3-something aftershock around 6:30 a.m. afterthought: it strikes me that maybe it was a bit insensitive or in poor taste to make a joke about our little quake here, after all that devastation in s.e. asia. i apologize for that.

Heheheh Jiening has the same attitude about earthquakes. The government should tell us when. I was on the phone with her this morning when it happened. It was a very sudden onset, but still a mild event. It startled me more than usual. She got very worried about me. Makes me wonder what she will do when she feels her first one. yeah phil, that was sort of the point. cracked me up when she said that.

yan zi and i bought one-way tickets on china southern. (laofu too )

We had a little window rattler this morning, and Yan Zi slept right through it. So, I just now woke her and asked her if she felt it. She said, "Earthquake? They did not forecast." I said (laughing incredulously), "Forecast it??? If they could forecast it, people wouldn't die in the damn things!" Yan Zi: "Well they should forecast. At least in America."

yan and i went to the jp. i wanted to get her on my health insurance asap, and we have to be married for that. we're in california where no bloodwork or anything else is required. they just wanted an appointment, so i scheduled it the week before i left for gz to pick her up.