Kids say the darnedest things

Last night, my elder daughter wanted to call one of her friends from school to invite her to a sleep over. She dialed the number then said "Sorry, wrong number" and hung up. (or 'rang off', as the British would say). We asked her how she knew it was a wrong number and she said, "well, some Chinese woman answered". We responded with the observation that the friend she was calling was Chinese and perhaps it was a family member who answered the phone and we suggested calling back. She did. She asked for her friend this time and got to talk with her.

We found this a funny example of living life overseas with kids.

Sea World Video

Shekou Sea World

This is the mighty Ming Hua passenger liner reduced to the humble "Cruise Inn" hotel at Sea World in Shekou, Shenzhen, China. They have taken two staterooms and turned them into one very, very nice hotel room. I must say, this hotel is really nice.

Listening to Christmas songs

Well, I was in Papa John's in Shekou today, watching Chinese girls softball and listening to a hodgepodge of weird Christmas songs.

At least the pizza was good.

a note to Nancy

Hurry up and come home, Nancy; we miss you!

Sitting at the airport in BKK

I really hate paying for internet use. You can get free wireless practically all over China, but you must pay extortion prices to use the internet anywhere in Thailand. OK, that is off my chest now.

I really enjoyed my visit to Chiang Mai. I got to see many friends, some on purpose; some by blessing. I was able to purchase a few little things that we miss from Thailand. I was able to eat at a few places that I really like and miss in HK. But, I am now on my way home to Hong Kong. It is a good thing, too, because I miss all three of my girls. (and I want to give 'em the loot I bought)

I'm sitting here in the Bangkok ((BKK) airport, probably for the very last time; at least in this particular airport. The new one is supposed to open on September 28. (Emily's birthday, coincidentally) I have been in and out of this airport many times, but it is simply worn out. Of course, they have pretty well quit doing anything for it since they started building the new one. This one isn't laid out well. It isn't pretty. It offers little beyond the "Duty Free" shops when you are in the international section.

I can only hope the new one is as nice as the Hong Kong International Airport.

Chiang Mai

I am having a great time in Chiang Mai. And, so far, the kidney stone hasn't caused me any more trouble!

It has been such a great time to see my friends and just "be" in Chiang Mai. I got to eat at the Duke's last night and at Miguel's tonight. Afterwards, a friend and I went for a very nice foot massage.

I'm planning on taking care of a little business tomorrow. I'll return back to HK on Friday.

I miss my girls.

Chiang Mai Bound

Yep, that's right. I'm headed to Chiang Mai bright and early tomorrow morning. I'll be there for a meeting for a couple days. I can't wait to see my friends.

The big deal to me is that I think I'm getting another kidney stone. Yikes!

Glad I missed the bus

This morning, I had some business to take care of and I was waiting on a mini bus. The first one that came by, passed me by. I guess it was full, but he sure didn't stop for me. I waited about 8-10 minutes for the next one which happily stopped and picked me up.

As we rounded the corner about 1 km away, I saw the first mini bus that had passed me by in the middle of the road with the police all around. The driver had plowed into the back of another vehicle.

Boy, am I glad I missed the bus!

Something new

I will admit I have only lived in HK for two months since Britain handed HK to the Chinese and I haven't seen a whole lot since that happened, but I did see something today that took me by surprise; two Chinese war ships were in Victoria Harbor today. It was simply shocking to see them there. I know this is "China", and there are Chinese flags everywhere, but it is just so unexpected to see Chinese Navy ships sitting out in the harbor.

I had my phone camera with me, but I was on a bus and didn't get any kind of a good picture of them. Sorry.

The LAST Box

Yes, folks! That's right. The last box was unpacked today. For the first time since 1998, we don't have a box waiting to be unpacked! Amazing!

Way to go, Sally!

Beautiful Day

It was a beautiful day in Hong Kong today. Sally and I went out to get our drivers' licenses and we took the Wan Chai Star Ferry back. It was absolutely gorgeous today. This is the HK Convention Center with Central in the background.

Chinese Wal-Mart

I took my very first trip to a Chinese Wal-Mart yesterday in Shekou. It was a super center. My first impression was "Wow, this sure looks like a Wal-Mart!" At first sight, it does. At closer inspection, you'll find that it is all Chinese products. Wait a minute! That's just like an American Wal-Mart!

My Chinese teacher took me to have a "practical language experience". It was an interesting experience, to say the least. She made me repeat about 93% of every item in the entire two storey store. I also met nearly every one of the Chinese "team members", as my teacher made them ask me if I wanted to buy the cup, or the pencil, or the notebook, or the shirt, or the watch, or the etc... I had to respond with "sorry, but I don't want to buy the cup, or the pencil, or the ..."

Lots and lots of fun.

Our apartment building

This is our apartment building as viewed from walking back from the grocery store. I outlined our flat in red.

Krispy Kreme at last!

One of the trainers from the USA is Hali from the Tulsa branch. What a small world!

Profiling not "PC"?

The idiots that crashed the planes into the WTC and the Pentagon were Arab Muslims. The morons who bombed London last year were Arab Muslims. The jerks who were planning to blow up the 10 planes in the UK were Arab Muslims. But, they can't profile when they do searches at the airport. Afterall, this fat white Krispy Kreme eatin' Oklahoma Baptist just might have a bomb in his hair gel.

COME ON PEOPLE! GET A CLUE!

(OK, I'm done with this rant for a while. We will now return to normal blogging.)

Extreme Temperatures Overwhelm Oklahoma

This is the weather map from KOTV.com in Tulsa at 7:30 pm on Aug 10. My goodness! Those are some hot temps for such a late hour!

Non event

Bopha is passing by, but I should say passing on. It was pretty much a non event, except for the brief squall we had last night about midnight. It lasted for about 45 minutes or so, but the wind blew for a while longer. We have had a couple periods of light rain, but no stormy weather. I think the other Category 5 Super Typhoon sucked all the energy out of our little Bopha. (Good for us!)

Audrey had a great first day of school today, but Emily had a stomach bug and wasn't able to make it in on her first day. Needless to say, she was very, very disappointed. She is feeling better tonight and is expected to make it to school tomorrow.

Tropical Depression BOPHA

Well, typhoon signal number 1 is hoisted again. This time, I made it home before the seas got rough. But, just now at midnight, the rains, wind, and thunder & lightning have started up "big time". It isn't expected to be as big as the one last week, but, quite frankly, I'm glad it's here to blow out all the horrible pollution that came in since the last one. It was so bad today, that I couldn't even see the airport from the ferry; and we pass within a MILE of it!

In another note, the girls' first full day of school is tomorrow, er, today. (Thursday) They are terribly excited about it.

Krispy Kreme

Well, here I sit in Shenzhen while Hong Kongers are busy eating Krispy Kremes. My wife sent an SMS to tell me that my family went there this morning, too! I really am happy for them, but I would have sure like to have gone on opening day, too.

Oh well, it will be there when I get back.

Another Storm's A Brewin'

Tropical Storm BOPHA is brewing in the NW Pacific and looks like it might just give us fits here in about 4 days. There are currently 3 active tropical storm systems in the NW Pacific and the Tropical Storm Risk guys have forcasted the 2006 typhoon season to be busier than average.

Birthday Song - The Video

This is a rather large file, so you may have to wait a while for it to play correctly if you use a dialup connection.

Sally's birthday

Wow! We have had a great time celebrating Sally's birthday today. The kids made her open her gifts EARLY this morning, then we set out for dim sum for a late brunch. Afterwards, we went shopping on Grandville Road, then took the tram up to the Peak for a beautiful sight. We took a double-decker back down the mountain, then the MTR (subway) to Ruby Tuesdays for supper. We are totally exhausted, but we had time for ice cream and cake after we got home.

Happy Birthday, Sally!

Sally in Tulsa, Dec 2002

Today is my lovely wife's birthday. (I'll let HER tell you how old she is!) She is the love of my life, a terrific mother to our children, and my help-mate.

Sally, Happy Birthday! I love you!

Prapiroon downgraded

Typhoon Prapiroon has been downgraded to a signal 1 in Hong Kong. Most of it has passed on by, but we could still experience a wind and rain band that swings back through for another swipe.

BoyneBlog Anniversary

The BoyneBlog is 2 years old today.

Thanks to all who indulge me by dropping by to read it.

Strong Winds - Driving Rain

Well, we are certainly feeling the effects of typhoon Prapiroon. The gale force winds make it difficult to use an umbrella and the vertical driving rain makes an umbrella impractical. They say the worst part of it is over, but we should still have wind and rain for the next couple of days.

Loss of a friend

We got word today that one of our friends in the Ivory Coast has died. Pascal was a faithful employee of the Abidjan International Guesthouse for many, many years. He was a friend to all visitors and loyally served the needs of everyone there without complaint or hesitation. He loved our children and would have done anything we ever asked. He will be greatly missed by all those who knew him.

He leaves a wife and 3 children with one on the way. He died in his sleep quite unexpectedly. He was about 42 years old.

Typhoon Signal 3 Hoisted in HK

Yep, Typhoon Prapiroon was about 210 miles from HK at 10 local time. Take a look at its forcasted track HERE.