Wal*Mart in China

Martta surprised me by leading me to a Super Wal*Mart in Beijing. It was two stories tall. We found a row and a half of yogurt, but no cheese. And the connection between the floors was a ramp at an angle like a flat moving sidewalk in an airport. As you went up or down there were display cases of goods you could reach out and take something you forgot you needed and add it to your cart in passing, like displays of candy at our checkout stands.

And the fresh fish market had goodies we don't normally see in the states. These look like squid.

World Trade Dinner

Rushing last night because of Welcome Back Dinner in Silver Spring. Home and crashed because still adjusting to true time. Diana said it would take one day for every hour I was out of synch.

Tonight the NFTC World Trade Dinner. Dave Camp the honoree. Here he is giving his dinner speech to over 300.

Expecting 2-4" of rain but luckily it wasn't raining on way to dinner nor walking home. Light rain starting now just short of midnight.

We were at the Organization of American States near the Mall in Washington, DC.

Suffice It To Say .....

We took about 2500 pictures, but I am not going to show them all to you. We had a wonderful time tooling around China. This was the next to the last place we saw. We were on ten different kinds of transportation: gondola, ski lift, bicycle, taxi, car, bus, metro, airplane, ferry, mag lev train, fast train and regular train, if you count the trains as one. We learned lots, including Martta's axiom: sleep going East, stay awake going West.

We were up 28 hours coming home and the Summer Palace was the first part of that day. It seemed to work. I was at work all day clearing two weeks of backlog and didn't fall asleep at my desk.

Staging

This is the closest I have come to packing early ever. It all started with steady rain this morning, knocking out my chance at heading out to the garden to weed and mow the lawn. Yes, and thereby avoiding packing or even thinking about it.

I got a lot accomplished today. Those plastic bags to the right of the pink neck pillow are my vitamins, carefully counted out for twelve days and labeled so inspectors can see this traveler is a healthy girl because she takes lots of vitamins.

Hair dryer at top right (red) has been turned to handle 220 volts direct current. You saw the adapter/converter for the iPhone yesterday. Looks like I am set. Now for Tuesday morning to arrive.

Everything At Once In A Box

I believe I have not only every adapter in the world I would ever need, but that key feature in the upper right corner, the "converter" for the iPhone.

I hope so. It would be less helpful to really be on vacation and not have instant access to my emails back at the office.

There is a caveat. If there are no cell towers in China at our touring location, I may not have the access anyway! We will see.

The latest I can pack is Tuesday morning.

First Time For Everything

Very long week at work with way too much to do. Read the camera book on the way to work on the metro, but didn't want to take the time to load the "cd with software" or even think about it.

Took this picture, and it did load up perpendicular to the way I took it, but this is my first picture with my new camera. What a lot of settings and I still managed very easily to get a picture.

Went up stairs and used the same technique I have used in the past. Turn the camera on after plugging in. Strange new options but I double clicked and there it was on DCIM so I copied it over to my pictures and look. Here it is.

Tomorrow I will load the Canon software which tells me how to do it officially, but for now windows pictures worked.

Can I extol the virtues of the home made rice bag for warming toes on cold nights or easing the tight tension left from muscles stressed out at the office during the day? And my favorite coasters.

Gramee Report 2.0

I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't see the words were not turned right side up for reading, but I want to announce with great fanfare that we are moving the Gramee Report into the next generation of reporting.

An amazing package arrived today out of the clear, blue sky ... literally delivered by Amazon ... although I did have an anticipation warning - a package was coming.

I had no idea that it would turn out to be a phenomenal camera that is so tiny, the word Canon almost stretches from side to side!

Now to put it to use. Stand by for tomorrow evening's upgraded Gramee Report (yes, the camera battery is still being charged for the first time). Thank you, Martta!

My Old Grade School

My old grade school became a convent and it was painted and upgraded with plants and a different driveway, and a porch, but the fire escape slide is still there.

The top entry was from the general assembly/theatre room, a room that had an actual stage. Annually, no matter how afraid of heights we were or which grade we were in - kindergarten to sixth grade, we had to slide down the fire escape and then proceed to a safe meeting place.

I always thought this was ten stories high when I was little. The slide down took forever and was dark, with a light at the end of the tunnel downhill from where you were. Still, I survived.

The Things You Need

Found a few things I need at Target this weekend. Eye-shades and ear plugs for sleeping on the plane. And electricity. China uses 220/50 versus the US 120/60 - direct v. alternating.

I found a box of "adapters", which means one end will fit into the Chinese wall plugs - either skinny round prongs or the tilted rectangles. The end with the holes receives the standard American plug.

BUT these don't convert power. Luckily the hairdryer has a switch - changeable by screwdriver turning - to 220. And the iPhone wall plug seems to be a mini-converter itself. So I should be able to dry my hair and recharge my phone.

2010 Primary Election in Maryland

Maryland changed their election law effective this primary election. I figure they did it when they heard Martta and I are flying to China on the 14th, the statewide voting day. The sample ballot mailed to us said that we could choose absentee ballot, early in-person voting at selected sites in the County, and in-person on 9/14.

Today is Labor Day Monday, but our polling station is open 10am to 8pm. We were practically the only ones there because you can see at 2:30pm the sky was California blue and mild temperature and low humidity. Why would anyone be indoors?






However, we didn't know where it was so I made a wrong turn at Clopper and 118, heading to the soccer plex picnic grounds I was familiar with. Then back through a nearby shopping center, Kingsview Village. And finally we crossed over 118 and when we saw all these signs, we knew we were headed in the right direction.

Most of the people in these cars in the parking lot were at the adjacent swim center which is only open today and then closes or goes under a bubble for the winter.

Ten Days - No Rain

It was dry for the past week and a half so technically I didn't have to mow the lawn, because it was not growing gangbusters, like when it rained all summer.

But shocking news. I did have to mow the lawn, because so many leaves fell!

This happened this week sometime. And because of the summer rain, we are going to have plenty of leaves to rake (or mow) all Fall.

Crickets are chirping, so I guess it is time to see the fallen leaves, but I was still surprised.

I Didn't Know What I Had

My father-in-law, Walt, gave this light bulb to me long ago and I have kept it around as a reminder of him. But I didn't realize how important it was in history.

Recently, we toured the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. If you are ever in DC, this is a must-see stop. You can call ahead for a docent-led tour or just drop in and read all the displays.

This building is the first public building to have electric lights, and yes, they look exactly like the light Walt gave me. You can see #15 on the bulb to keep track of the many metals he used for the illumination.

The lights are still in use, but augmented greatly by modern lighting. Still, that is a wondrous thing to see in person.

Yeah! Labor Day Weekend

Eight cousins, three sisters, Great-nana and a husband. We used to get together to celebrate in the summer. Now we all are in quiet homes and it is much harder to get all these same folks together.

This is on Grandmother's front step, a frequent gathering spot when we had reunions at the Double Z.

Happy three day weekend!

Babushka Babee

The day after her real birthday yesterday, but she is over on the other side of the pond and we are over here.

Martta was just about as old as Caroline is here when we went to buy our little Fiesta in California.

While Neil and I were signing papers, the salesman reached out to the kids, "and what is your name little girl?"

Martta's response, "my name is Martta, but my daddy calls me babushka baby."

Yes, she got hugs all around!

Shock-Er-Roo

I had a morning meeting with the Motorola Rep and hadn't been over by the Willard in some time. I couldn't believe my eyes as I looked across the intersection. Could my Borders be closed?

Picture quality lousy because it is bright sunshine of morning and the reflection distracts.

One sign in the window said, e-book store now available.

So handy to stop on the way to meetings, open early and late, and now gone. Goodness.

Are we more electronic for books or is it the economy? I will never know.