Going to Tokyo - a White Christmas across the river...

Sorry folks, haven’t written in quite a while. Been busy at work, and with planning our next vacation - Christmas in Tokyo! Planning on flying out [of Beijing] on the morning of Dec. 23, and returning evening Dec. 30. If you have any recommendations, do let us know! I have tons of photos from the past few months to post - hopefully I will get to them soon…

"Welcome To Beijing Summit!"

Beijing is a bit crazy these few days - leaders from some 48 African countries are coming (today actually) for the “Beijing Summit”. Not “China-African Summit” or “Sino-African Summit”. It is called “Beijing Summit”. And you’ve got to love the poor grammar. Welcome to THE Beijing Summit, idiot! This is, unfortunately, a common mistake here. “Welcome To Take Beijing Taxi” is what you’ll hear every time you get into a cab.

Power Outage!

Power Outage!Originally uploaded by chrisdrum. Update: Power came on around 4-5pm on Saturday. So that’s almost 24 hours. Piece of crap crap… Came home from work today to a massive complex wide power outage! 4 hours later, still no power. Oh, by the way, the water lines are out also! This complex is managed by amateurs! One big amateur show! We had to walk up 22 flights of stairs! i’ll upload more pictures once / if the power comes back…

My First Ever Speeding Citation - Luckily Just a Warning!

10212006 Speeding Warning - Altered Scan Originally uploaded by chrisdrum. Was driving into Austin from the Texas Hill Country after a day of wine tasting with friends. No, I was not drunk, I was perfectly fine to drive. Any way, I got pulled over at 10:05 PM or so for doing 69 in a 55 zone. That was my first ever time being pulled over. A Michigan driver driving a New Mexico rental car in Texas - I thought this would be trouble.