Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Playing coy

In the metro station, before I decided to take Stella home, the man assured me that she was 10 weeks old and wouldn't get much bigger than like a foot tall. Well, I took Stella for her first vet visit yesterday to find out. First and foremost, the vet told me how stupid I was for taking a dog from the metro, that these dogs always have problems, then basically scared me half to death with all the things that could be wrong with her. She tested negative for distemper, but definitely has a bad cold. So no vaccinations until she finishes two weeks of antibiotics.

Then he told me that she was 6 only weeks old, and not a small dog breed at all, but most likely a collie/lab mix. I'm not so sure about that though, because she only weighs 2 lbs. Most of the websites I checked out said lab/collie puppies at 6 weeks should weigh around 8-12 lbs. Unless she has one hell of a growth spurt, I don't see her getting to be a big dog. Then again, Clifford, The Big Red Dog keeps popping into my head.

After two doses of her medicine yesterday, she ate a good dinner and was being a normal playful puppy. Until I tried to show her face on video....



What's with hiding your face, little pooch?? Camera shy?? So cute!

(If I'm going this gaga over a puppy, lord help me if I ever have kids.)

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Stolen heart

My plan for this evening was to leave work, stop by the grocery store for some chicken, then head home to make a healthy dinner. Things didn't quite work out that way. Madame M and I left work, headed for the metro, and there I met my fate. About halfway down the stairs was this Chinese girl holding the cutest puppy I'd ever seen in my life. She put the puppy back in the box, and with one sad little look up and a wag of a curly tail, I was hooked. I picked that puppy up, she licked my nose, and that was the end of me. I took her home. She's now curled up fast asleep in my lap. Meet Stella XiaoLongBao (my Shanghai Special Dumpling):

Monday, May 21, 2007

Can you hallucinate from champagne?




We went to the Westin Hotel last weekend for an incredibly lavish champagne brunch (which got sloppy, but that's another story for another venue) and this was some of the entertainment. I wasn't sure if I was seeing things or not, so had to video it. If anyone ever spun me around like that, I'd puke. (Regardless of how much champagne I had, albeit very classily with pinky out and all, just slugged down.)

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Ultimate.. Serious Ultimate

I played Ultimate frisbee in Kosovo. It's where I met my friends, had a little fun, got some exercise, and made lots of memories. So when I got to Shanghai, I thought "What a great way to meet some new people and throw some disc!" I Googled the team here, found their website, sent off an email, and by luck of connections met some of the players last weekend at a crazy party. Then off I went to play today. It seems I just thought that I played Ultimate in Kosovo.

Let me tell you, this is not your kick around and throw some disc kind of frisbee group. These are Ultimate athletes. They take their frisbee seriously. Very seriously. The eat, sleep, breathe, live and die Ultimate. They play international tournaments. Let me rephrase that a little... they win international tournaments. They have an association, with bylaws and officers and all kinds of crazy officialdom. They are hands down the best team in Asia. It's a little intimidating.

So... we arrived 20 minutes late to practice (yes, Thor, they practice - 2 or 3 times a week), in the midst of some intense drills. I was told that we were lucky, normally if you're late to practice you have to run sprints. Argh! I haven't run sprints (or drills, for that matter) since I played soccer in high school. Then they picked teams for the scrimmage. The official announcement went something like this: "We have a tournament in 3 weeks. Priority play time will go to those on the A team. This is not the week to come to learn frisbee. If you are a new player, don't expect to play much today." Intimidating.

They play on a full size field, with teams of 7 (5 men, 2 women). They run a split offense, with 3 handlers and 4 cutters. Maturo would be impressed with the stacking techniques. Most of the time they run a man-to-man defense, but we practiced zone too. (For you non-Ulti players, this is just some jargon to make you think I know what I'm talking about. Don't I sound cool??) And they weren't lying about play time. I played exactly 4 points today, and never saw a disc. I got to run a lot, my shoulders and and nose are pink with sunburn, and I got to see what competitive Ultimate looks like.

There were some really nice people who took pity on the New Girl and actually talked to me. Others were trying to explain offensive strategy between points. (Considering I had no strategy, this was a good thing.) AND I was invited to play on the C team for the tournament. I'm now a proud Pirate. Woohoo!!! (Have I mentioned yet how much I love it in Shanghai??)

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mr. Mannequin


ShanghaiMay 007
Originally uploaded by mgaston123.

Usually, it's female mannequins that have the SNE (simultaneous nipple erection) syndrome, but I guess they're aiming for equal opportunity window dressing over here. Too funny.