Batmaniac

I have been to a few zoos in China. The Beijing zoo was probably the best, but even there the tigers were kept in too small of cages. That included several HUGE Siberians. In Shenzhen, there was a brand new tiger area at their zoo. Looked pretty nice. Don't know about feeding, but the bridge/walkways above the tigers seemed way too low. This was about 3 months or so after those idiots in San Fran taunted a tiger into jumping 11 ft and killing one of them. Some Chinese people were yelling at the tigers below in Shenzhen, and told Ying maybe we should split and related the San Fran story later. They did have ligers and tiglons in the Shenzhen zoo which were interesting to finally see. Unfortunately I think the Chinese public needs more education on how to treat animals at a zoo. I saw several people giving cigarettes and candy to the chimps. I also saw one college aged girl find a long piece of bamboo lying around and she began whacking and poking a sleeping jaguar so her boyfriend could get some pics of the cat getting pissed. I was also offered a chance to get into several cages for pictures with various animals for around a 100 RMB. This included a panda. I saw several examples of previous photos there with people hugging the panda. Does anyone remember the news story about the panda that keeps attacking people at the Beijing zoo? http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/09/panda.attack/ Surprised it's not happening more often with these opportunities to hug a panda! The less said about the zoo in QingHuangDao the better, I guess. I'll end it with I never thought I could feel sorry for a crocodile until that day.

Congrats! From the thread title I thought some policy was changing regarding the I 751!! I was thinking oh crap here we go.

Heard about this on NPR this morning. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...ft=1&f=1001 Documents what parents are going through losing their only child. And also the reaction of some of the local officials to charges of corruption in building the the schools that collapsed. Surprised really that these filmmakers weren't shut down at several points during the film. It does show the police trying to stop a demonstration march. There's 5 parts on Youtube. Here's the first. The rest will be over on the right side. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=026HsrgHjwM...=PL&index=1 It is heartbreaking. My wife had tears through most of it. And me too nearly.

But I am just wondering if a visa is required to transit though various airports to get to the islands. No direct flight from China right?

Very good news Robert! When do the neurotic AOS threads begin? seriouly, I am so happy that you guys never have to leave each other again!

Congrats!

The cherry tomatoes sound great. Ying and I have been getting these cherub tomatoes at Costco. YUM! Duck breast sounds ok too. We have a new food trailer in Austin called Odd Duck Farm To Trailer. It's been opened by the son of a famous Austin chef and the theme is fresh farm food with an ever-changing menu. First time we went there Ying asked if they had duck meat. Well they had duck eggs and promised to have duck soon. Poor little ducks. http://www.oddduckfarmtotrailer.com/ The pork belly slider is amazing!

Congrats Bryon! Long time coming!!

You were looking for Skype? There's also the Magic Jack thing for local calls I guess.

That is brutal! But worth it.

I wouldn't risk it in today's airport climate. Not to mention the MPAA and RIAA being so cozy with the government. You never know who they will make an "example" of next.

Just get another phone. They are cheap. Every Chinese person I met there had two phones and two numbers.

I don't know if I could go for just a week, jet lag and all that, but you'll have fun. I unfortunately have yet to be in China for CNY. Someday . . .

We usually stop at my grandmothers grave when traveling to Dallas. Ying likes to put oranges and strawberries ( she found out those were grandmas favorite) on the stone. Last time we didn't have anything but Oreo's so that's what grandma got! but yeah we have a lot of ghost discussions. After a few drinks Ying has been known to really freak out my friends by talking about a 50 foot ghost that chased her mom all the way home one night.

Listen to Stepbrow. I was there when he stormed the tower and lived to tell the tale!

Netflix has an OK selection of Chinese films. Not sure about streaming. Get her to watch American films and TV shows with English subs though. that helps a lot IMO. As far as the dish, maybe your HOA means they don't want you drilling the dish into the condo's railings or walls or something. To overcome this, I've seen people attach them to a pole that is then secured into a bucket of concrete and then placed on a porch.

Don't leave GUZ yet. Try talking to who I mentioned in PM at ACS and then try ACH Monday. Don't be surprised, you may need to write a letter of explanation. I know, I know . . . for GUZ' mistake. Sheesh . . . the bums.

Glad to hear this. Now the adventure begins!

Problem resolved. Turbo visited his sweetheart. Found a job. Things are going great.

OK, she just received another one in the mail from Rooms To Go. So you guys should try there.

OK, I am bumping this up this morning. You guys should try Home Depot. Last night they gave my wife a $500 credit line no questions asked. Just approved through the register and she had to punch in he SS# and DOB in the key pad. Didn't even ask about income and job. And I was not a co-signer. We didn't need the card for the purchase, but thinking about this thread I thought it might be a good plan to start establishing credit for her. Now the employee wanted to get her approved for more to completely cover our multiple door purchases, but that was a no-go when the credit company got her on the phone. They asked her multiple choice questions to establish where she has lived for the last year and that her name was NOT Marsha (with our last name). I don't know who the hell Marsha is either, but Ying was asking me questions about her the rest of the night.

I can't live without it. Actually we use Adium which has all messengers in one program, but we are sending links back and forth all the time.

But sometimes she will be in one room and you another . . . do you really want to shout?

Don't sweat it. Your 200 pages are fine! You are getting pink!

I was going to buy a set of kitchen knives in one of those blocky style holders to set on the counter today . . . oooh boy. Knives go in the drawer! It's unlucky to have them out on the counter apparently.