Lorraine and I arrived in New Orleans real early after taking the redye from Sacramento. Mallory and Andrew picked us up at the airport with perfect timing. As were coming down the escalator they were walking through the terminal doors.

We spent most of the morning hours with Mal & Andrew shopping for a dress that Mallory could wear after her graduation (party dress). Afterwords Mal dropped us off at the hotel. About noon Judi landed and headed over to the hotel, were staying at the same place. We had decided to have lunch at a nearby famous eatery called “Mothers”. Since I had a small brunch a little earlier I just ordered a brownie, oh man… it was a killer brownie! Lorraine had a bread pudding which I never heard of and that too was killer. My sister Judi had a Jambalaya and that was it, I knew we would be coming back again for more. I needed to get my own bowl of Jambalaya.

As it turns out they are producing a movie called the “Expendables” right next to our hotel Marriott’s Reconnaissance. The movie actors Sylvester Stallone, Mickie Rourke and Jet Li. I was able to get into the set and take a few pictures (at least for awhile before we were booted out) I have a shot below of “Rocky” going back into the movie trailer.

Later in the evening Mal picked us up from the hotel and we headed to the French Quarters to have a graduation dinner. I have to say it was one of the best meal and service I have ever had. The food was absolutely amazing and the service incredible. Auntie Judi had a bunch of gifts for Mallory that she brought along and shared that were from Nick and his mom. She even bought and IPOD for Andrew just for being there.

After a great emotional dinner we headed to Mal’s place so I could give her my gift. I created a video of her life growing up, the video highlighted a lot of 1st time events. It went well, I’m sure she will enjoy if for many years to come. I’ll be making a set of DVD’s for the boys soon so they can have something to help them remember their childhood days.

Even though the hotel does not have all the nice extras it does have one great qualily, location. We are walking distance to all the great shopping retailers in the aresa. Most of them are high dollar stores that we just pass and say “nice display”.

We had stayed in this hotel awhile back. They have this baby grand piano in the lobby. A kid wearing a backpack was playing classic Mozzart. It was amazing watching this kid jam along. I asked the hotel personel about him and they said he knowlonger comes around anymore. I guess he found another piano to play for free.

One thing that is tough about a lot of the San Francisco hotels is the No Smoking rules. Most of them are smoke free buildings so you’ll have to take an elevator downstairs and stand outside to burn one. Poor Bugs (me too) had to go outside.

All in all it was another great weekend in the city…

It seems like it doesn’t matter what hotel window I look out of, I always have the same feeling… it’s not home. I catch myself staring outside a lot wishing I was home.

The traffic in Shanghai is famous. I’ve talked to guys who traveled all over the world and we all agree, nothing tops this place! It’s amazing what you’ll see on the roads. I’ve seen half a pic sliced down the center with the hind quarters straddled over a motorcycle, live chickens mounted on a bicycle (shown below).

During my two months total stay I think I’ve seen a total of 6 wrecks. I think that is amazing considering how dangerous EVERYONE drives. I can’t even count the near misses I witnessed.

Our daily drivers which we named Gucci and Louie Vatton are expert van drivers. They got us through the rush hour traffic like it was an amusement park ride. The constant honking, headlight flashing, brake screeching sounds all become normal. By the time I left Shanghai I didn’t even flinch when it came to near misses, though I do admit heading straight onto the larger busses and trucks got me thinking “what if” scenerios.

This work tour seemed to last forever. I have so much at home to appreciate and not enough time there to enjoy. As I looked through the airplane window I realized I literally flew around the world this time. I flew to Chicago, Stockholm, Vienna, China, Japan then finally to San Francisco. Unbelievable.

Well after being here a couple of weeks I finally found the Chinese version of Redbull and replacement Twinkie. One thing I noticed immediately it didn’t have the throat burning carbonation as the US version. It does appear to be made by same company in Austria.

I’m fairly burnt out on Chinese food. This happened to me in Thailand too, after awhile you start looking for food that reminds you of home. In this case anything but Chinese food sounds good. I found this Brazilian BBQ place not too far from the hotel. The food was good, mostly meat. Once I find a meal I like I tend to go there a lot. I’m sure by the time I leave Shanghai, I will have made many visits.

Well this is the highlight of my trip to China. Standing in front of a huge video display of the “Great Wall of China”. This about as close I as I’m ever going to get since Bejiing is approximately 12 hours away by train. It would have been nice but no way.

After lunch today myself and a few co-workers traveled to Central Shanghai to pickup a few electronic parts. I found every car in the city heads toward the center. The traffic was horrible, took about an hour to travel 7 miles each way.

No matter where you are in Shanghai something is either being built or destroyed. I notice these bamboo scafolds being used all over the city. Who would have thought it would be robust enough. Apparently it is because it’s the preffered method around here. When you stop and think about it, who says it’s not a better method than what were using in the states? They have 20 million plus people, they must have figured out by now the most efficient ways of doing things. Ya think?

Walking around town you see these guys literally dangling from the sky. They tie themselves to the top of a building and start working on the building top to bottom. From what I could see they were using “putty” to fix cracks or holes on the walls.

If these guys should fall, it would be straight into the crowded streets below. The lesson learned, not only watch for pickpockets from the front and rear but also above!