As Far As You Know

We left Beijing this morning and arrived in Shanghai in the early afternoon. We settled into our pretty plush accommodations at the Shanghai Racquet Club, an expat community on the outskirts of the city and had some on-court time. This place has all the comforts of home: Western-style food (we had a late dinner at a nearby Papa John's Pizza!), Internet access, and satellite television with a slate of English-speaking options.

After a morning routine of tennis training, the boys and I were taken by our hosts, the Jia family, downtown in the late afternoon. We all got measured for bespoke suits at a tailor shop (about $75 apiece--a tremendous bargain), took some group pictures on the Bund, had a great jiaozi meal, and shopped for cheap (a.k.a. pirated) DVDs in the Gubei district. I picked up the recent releases Elizabethtown and Pride and Prejudice, which I missed in the theaters, as well as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom--all for less than $2 per disc. (I already own the latter, of course; I got another copy just so I could watch the Shanghai scenes again while I am here.) I also bought seasons 1 through 3 of Nip/Tuck, which I have never seen, but understand is quite good. That set me back about $15.

While the boys were training, I went into Shanghai for a while this afternoon. The SRC, where we are staying, runs a free shuttle service into the city. It takes about an hour to get to the heart of town. I spent a few hours cruising around Huaihai Road--a major shopping district. Though I bought nothing, it was good to hit the pavement and get a better feel for the city. In many ways, Shanghai feels like a perfectly modern, economically prosperous city. The language difference obviously gives the place a different vibe than one would find in America or Europe, but I easily could have imagined I was in a Japanese city without much trouble.

I've been able to see far more of the Indian Wells tennis tournament on television here in Shanghai--halfway around the world--than I would have back in the States. Live coverage of the event plays throughout the morning on one of the satellite sports channels. The age of globalization is here!

I doubt they will be dyeing the rivers green here in Shanghai as they do in Chicago, but it's St. Patrick's Day nonetheless. My dad always told me that there are two types of people in the world: the Irish and those who want to be Irish. So Happy St. Paddy's Day to all!

I got a copy of Photo Booth to use with my iSight camera. The application is more or less pointless, but it IS fun!

I used the new features in the updated iLife '06 suite--specifically Garage Band and iWeb--to create a pair of podcasts and a new site for the Choate tennis team. Check it out here.

About to head to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport for a two-hour flight to Beijing, and then a 13+ hour ride to New York. Including time in three different airports and the ride back to Wallingford, I figure I'll be traveling the next 24 hours.