TAKING A SICK DAY The heat overtakes me today. It’s bearing down on me, smothering me under a heavy blanket that crushes my lungs. I’ve never known heat like this before. I’ve always thought Minnesota got hot and humid - I’ve nearly gotten heatstroke before during some July rodeo days. But this heat is different. It blocks everything else from one’s consciousness until your only thought is: I am hot. I took off this morning after spending a few hours updating my blog and posting pictures. My first mistake was to wait so long for breakfast. My second was to set off at a brisk trot for the Bund River Promenade. After looking around, I decided it was time for lunch. Unfortunately, about the same time the sky decided to open up and dropped buckets of ... read more

I'm tired today, oh so tired. We went to bed late, trying to get as much packed as possible. Jesse works a lot over here, checking his email every morning and night and then responding in order to catch his coworkers in the US and Mexico. That left me with the job of packing up. We're leaving most of our stuff here at the Crowne Plaza and bringing just one small bag to Shanghai. Because I was heading to work with Jesse and we both wanted breakfast, I wake up much earlier than I'm used to. It might be a long, long day. EMERSON PLANT TOUR I get to see where Jesse works today. In preparation I'm wearing long pants, and right before the tour begins he gives me these hard plastic cups which go over ... read more

There are many steps in a Chinese pedicure, from using a cheese-grater to remove dead skin on your heel to the paraffin treatment to the relaxing massage. See it all in this video. (NOTE MUSIC BY CHRISTOPHER BECKNELL)... read more

I don’t wake up in the middle of the night like Jesse warned I might, but I do wake up pretty early on Sunday. 6 a.m. Gives me time to edit some videos. Then I head downstairs to level 9 to take advantage of his daily breakfast. The buffet is enormous and includes both Chinese and Western offerings. I find the rice gruel I ate the day before on the plane; this time it’s flavored with chicken and tastes much better. I grab a piece of the vegetable I saw so much of the day before in the market. It looks kinda like a cross between a melon, a coconut and a potato. The texture inside the rough outer layer is like a potato. The fried rice here is different, looking whiter than it does at ... read more

I’M NEARLY TO NANJING I am excited this morning, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2008. Soon, very very soon, I’ll see my Jesse. And that’s really why I’ve made this journey halfway around the world. I have plenty of time to wait in the Beijing airport for my flight. It doesn’t board until 20 minutes before taking off. I find a place to plug in my laptop, taking a cue from the other man in the waiting area. The plug-ins at Gate 17 are hidden under metal caps in the floor. Clever. Lucky for me, it’s an all-around plug-in, not like the strange one I found last night in the hotel. There are many more holes than my 3-prong needs and it makes a slight spark when I plug it in. But the important thing is it charges. ... read more