tuesday in taiwan

So tons of stuff has gone down. lots of late meetings still, tons of moving around, but most importantly, getting updates from factories that my products are coming to life. Nothing makes a product guy happier than watching lines on paper become 3-Dimensional objects you can hold and turn around and feel. (of course, the first round versions of these are nothing like what you had imagined, but its a start)

this week is crunch week, tons of me 'babysitting

' the vendors and making sure they are running around like madmen to their subvendors so I can hand carry as much shit as possible home with me next week.

there's a super weird thing in China called KTV. these places have all different styles of entertainment, but usually the big thing is going into a room with your group of people, drinking small (endlessly poured) glasses of beer and singing karaoke. the super weird and uncomfortable part is that they just send in women who you are supposed to pick to pour your beer and sit next to you and its SUPER AWKWARD for me. I know there are plenty of old man American business guys who love this attention and style, but its not for me. I hate that shit. Let me repeat, I fucking hate that shit to hell. So usually when put in these situations, I just grab the karaoke mic and start singing until I can't sing anymore. I'll sing English, Spanish, even some songs in chinese to avoid dealing with the weirdos in these places. I sing and drink and then get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

Eventually I would love to do a documentary on these KTV places and expose what they are really about. It seems that the hotels make more money from their working "KTV Girls" than from the hotel rooms.

For the time being though, here are a few iphone pics from my escapades:

welcome to the Taipei Airport. that is not actually a human, but is human sized

Sean is an awesome designer at one of our factories in china, he has worked with Puma and Alexander McQueen on some pretty rad products. Also a great dancer.

me, doing what I do in China KTV's from beginning to end. sing, sing and more singing. I'm not shy to the mic.

some dude, who crashed our party and drank way too much. passed out and they had to take him out in a wheelchair. awesome end to the night.

saturday morning, 8am

and I'm heading out the door of the hotel for 2 more meetings today. One to a carbon fiber vendor and then to the cb pedal vendor. should be a good day.

THEN, we have to get from mainland China to the HK airport to fly to Taiwan for a week, then after that, back to China.

So the feelings running through my head are positive and negative. Like ions. or electrons and cells or something scientific and shit.

two more for the book

priceless is what these two gems are......taken in two different factories, but both equally awesome and put a smile on my face. smiles on these trips can be few and far between. I like to think of myself as a very positive, happy person, but when deadlines strike and stuff needs to get done yesterday, serious and stressed face usually take over.

so, please check out these photos and feel free to smile and maybe even laugh with me.

this one is a type, I'm sure of it.

this one, not a typo, but i don't think the girl working really knows what her shirt says. thus why she's wearing it to work...at a factory....in china.....making golf grips........by hand

ok, one picture

yeah, so what if Khan a bit cross-eyed. He was just waking up from a nap! and Ellie just trying to cuddle up behind him, cute little rugrats. Leigh sent me this pic a few hours after I left for Hong Kong.....

down to china(town)

ok, I stole that one from a text message from Rob, but still I'm sticking with it. (hey bud, time to update that website with the designs we worked on during the holidays...)

Yep, back in China. Flew out on a different route this time and it worked out pretty well. Instead of taking the usual United flight at around noon from SFO, I decided to book my ticket directly through Singapore Airlines, and boy am I glad I did. Its a midnight flight out of SFO, so you just fall asleep once you're on the plane (and with the ambien, you fall harder asleep), and then wake up hours later when you're landing at 6:30am a day and a half later in HK.

Its a star alliance partner, so I still accrue miles towards my frequent flyer status as well.

I got off the plane, hopped a ferry to mainland China, worked all day and now I'm back in the hotel about to go to sleep.

the cool thing about Singapore is that every seat has its own 10" TV with ondemand movies, tv (shoes; correction) shows, music, etc. On the way out I watched the new 007, Slumdog MIllionaire, and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. All pretty good I must say although there was no real infinite playlist in the latter movie....

I think this routing kills the potential for first day jet lag, but we'll see if that doesn't catch up to me in a day or two....

Pictures to come, just too tired to post them right now.

lunch..a new way to look forward to it

ever want to share just how good your sandwich was? Got a favorite deli that just knows how to do it right?

well, seems that some peeps have already started sharing the delight that comes from the beauty of the handmade artistry that is sandwich making.

jon b. sent over this link this morning and now I'm just CRAVING an eggplant parm on a hero roll.

Scanwiches

bye bye bicycle

sad news, had to send the BMC away. Technically, it was only a loaner and I knew that from the beginning, but when it was left with me, there was that twinkle in the distributor's eye that said, "yeah, I'll let you know IF we need it back...."

well, they needed it for a demo in a shop in Hollywood, so I had Tim help me out in disassembling it and packing it into its nice box, adding some small messages in hidden places on the frame, and moral support as I cried.

Hopefully, with some luck, it will reappear here, or maybe a different BMC road bike will appear, but man, purchasing one of these bad boys is just not an option!

BUT, there is a mountain bike on the horizon so that will be good. After exploring some good trails, single tracks and downhills in the Vista/Carlsbad area this past weekend, I could get into some good trouble this upcoming summer. Just need some body armor.....