Back in the USA

I need to work on my blog a little more as I'm kind of lax compared to my buddy Tony. Tony is one of my colleagues in China and if it wasn't for him, i would have probably gone nuts by now. Like myself, Tony tries to stay well aware of his surroundings and I mean more than visually. In this business, you need to keep track of everything going on around you so it doesn't blow up on you. I guess you would call it trying to stay one step ahead.

We took UAL 836 out of Shanghai and made tracks for home. My sister was waiting for us at ORD with her Grand Cherokee for us and also to kidnap Sonia. Tammy and I headed for Red Lobster to make a surprise visit on oldest daughter Olga. I had my first decent steak in a long time and it doesn't get any better than an American steak even if you have to go to a seafood place to get it.

I've included three special photos. The first photo is the Hyatt at Mickie D's campus. This is one of the finer hotels I've stayed and that includes the Shangri-La. The second photo is one taken on the way to the airport in Shanghai. Hard to believe but it's the exit to Longdong Ave. Number three is the average gas consumption on my sister's Grand Cherokee. Nobody would believe me but it's the real deal if you drive 55mph w/o air.

Hello from China

Hi there blog fans. This is my first attempt at a blog after seeing my buddy Tony's excellent blog on his life in China.

China, hmm, what can I say? We have it about as good as it gets but I really miss the good ole USA. For starters, it's expensive living here unless you go totally native. Much more than what it cost us in Russia and living in Russia meant you could be in Finland within two hours. In case you didn't know, Finland is God's country. You can get just about anything in Finland.

Living in Suzhou means a two hour ride to Shanghai. Traffic is out of control over here and what do you expect for a city of 16 million people. Did I mention people? The Chinese I have met are some of the nicest peope in the world, certainly nicer than just about every culture other than the Thai's and Filipino's.

Anyway, today is a big day. I saw my first 980H Wheel Loader in China. That's a big deal as the Caterpillar machines are many times more expensive than the locally produced machines. And that's why we're here, to build the finest construction machines available in the world. More on that later.