Last Post..

Departing Shanghai...

It has been an interesting journey here in Shanghai. I have to say that it really does feel similar to the Macau trip on my return back. I still remember my first day onsite. It was cold, rainy and miserable. I wasnt sure how things would end up. I remember Mclane showing me around and making me my lunch since there was nothing nearby or onsite. The time flew by. We must have worked an average of 60-70 hour weeks. The people that live in work in Shanghai are so much different than I ever imagined. Personal space isnt an issue, deodorant cannot be found and Im pretty sure the will not change their ways. Dogs run around on the street unleashed but are usually obedient following their master. Cabs are usually crazy and speak little english. The weather is normally rainy and windy. I actually really liked most of the food. We found some really excellent noodle and dumpling places for lunch. I always looked forward to lunch. This one place had these pan fried dumplings that were so good. I wish I had pictures. They would come in a small cardboard box that had a lid, and inside were 12 of these tubular dumplings very similar to blintzes. The flavor was hard to describe but a little garlicky and was filled with a pork mixture. You can easily pick them up with your foodsticks.

I was a little disappointed that I was not able to see more of the expo. I think Terrie actually saw more than I did. I didnt even make it over to the main site of the expo like Terrie did. The site was strangely barren without visitors later Saturday night, which was the opening day. I heard later, that its actually a holiday for the locals. Im really just mostly impressed with the architecture and the lighting on the buildings. There was one I noticed last night that must have had the most powerful spotlights I have ever seen. Of course since there is no regulations on what you do, you can put up anything. Across the bridges that span the river were hundreds of moving lights, big moving lights. I wonder where they all came from. None of them looked familiar, they must have been some chinese brand. Also, interestingly, each light was on its own scaffold, and had its own fire extinguisher right there.

I was not really able to see any of my friends work at all. I did go into the communications pavilion, which my friend Stephan worked on. It reminded me of Epcot about 20 years ago. Nothing spectacular. Two theatres with video projection. One had seat shakers with bubble machines and snow machines. The technology wasnt impressive at all. The pavilion only spoke about how communications has evolved. They gave you a little handheld device that didnt work very well. It would vibrate and flash something up on the screen. You typed in a username and password at first, that was never used for anything. I didnt see a sponsor, so im not sure what this pavilion was even for. I was hoping to see some technology, but I didnt see anything. I did however smell the most rank theatre ever. Its smelled badly of body odor. I almost walked out. I felt dirty after sitting in that seat.

So I am back in the US and happy to be with my wife again. I only hope that the guys that are still in Shanghai are able to make the system work reliably and not have many problems.

Last Day..

So this is my last day in shanghai!. I am packing everything and I know my bags are really heavy. I also have my pelican toolcase which is about 70 lbs. I am excited to get home and see my wife and rico. Thats all the time I have for this morning.

See you all soon.

Jason

-Last Entry- but I will post more pics when I get home.

Expo Open..

So today I went into work at 7am. I knew it would be a long day. Its the first day the expo is open to the public. Everything seemed to go smoothly. The night before was opening ceremonies and they kicked everyone out and cut the power. Strange to do the day before opening. I really think it was becuase the fireworks were closer to our side of the river.

We went out to dinner at the JW steakhouse on the 40th floor of our building. We had somewhat of a view but not great. Everyone came including Sam. Yag paid for dinner. It was expensive.

I knew it was going to be a long day since it was the only day i had to go over things with Nate who just arrived. Also to top things off, we couldnt do anythging but run the show until 1030. And then at 1030 the performers had a rehearsal. I had to sweet talk them into giving me a little time.

I am leaving Shanghai with the bug still present in the system, but i will keep on working on it from vegas. I got back to the hotel at 2am. Not ver practical for getting sleep before my flight. I cant sleep on planes, so I am sure I will be like a zombie when I get home.

Thats it from Shanghai!.. everyone should check out the cool site at www.expo.cn and go to area E. We are the building near the top left. The Chinese Private enterprise pavilion.

Funny video..

This video was taken on Nanjing road when Terrie was here. We were headed for the Bund and we passed this shop that had these crazy dancing dolls.

1 Day ....

So opening ceremonies is tomorrow and the smart chinese have done it again. Apparently they are locking down the entire site DURING the opening ceremonies. I am not sure who is going to be able to see the 100,000 shells that they are firing off.

Anyways, the last couple of days have been a blur to me. I have been going into work in the afternoon and staying until 4 or 5 in the morning. Its kinda spooky getting a cab that late at night. We have this one remaining bug that is haunting us. There is no simple solution for it and everyone is scratching their heads. We do know what the problem is, but fixing it will be tricky.

Yag is giving out the Tshirts tomorrow to everyone and the fisher team is prepared to all wear them as well. The image above is the little cards that we are printing out to go with them. Sam our CFO is onsite and he wants to do a video interview with me. He is really impressed with the work that I have done, but I am not satisfied yet. Once we fix this last issue then I will be happy.

Nate also missed his flight becuase he was sent the wrong itinerary. He will be here tomorrow night. He has come out to help with our issue and to help Tom out.

I saw some of the parade float vehicles today that they will be doing at the expo and they are really funny. All plastic and everything shakes around when the vehicles drive around. I will post pics soon.

Thats it, im tired and hungry. Its 5am.

3 Days - Birthday!

As I was getting up to my room after one of the longest days at work, I thought to myself I just dont have the energy to write in the blog. I got into the room and dropped my bag, and started emptying out my pockets. Something caught my eye. I looked at the table, and what to my wondering eyes would appear? I really nice little cake with happy birthday on the top! I was really surprised. I am not sure who was up to this, Terrie? Yag? Someone back east? It had to been someone I know since it was one of my favorites, tiramisu. It was actually excellent. I am saving the rest.

Just thought I would let everyone know my little delight today. I did get home at 430am.

Whoever got this for me, thank you.

jason

4 Days ..

Not much to report today. We had a pretty smooth operating day. We actually had public in the pavilion for the first time. I sat in the control room and didnt even think about listening to the crowd responses. Not many issues with the system. I was working with Taras online to see what he thought and sent him all the log files. We had some good chinese food for lunch. I got fried rice. It was really tasty. Not as good as Terries abolone fried rice, but still pretty good. I actually forced myself to finish the tub of rice. Then for dinner, which I thought I wouldnt even be hungry for I went and got two personal papa johns pizzas. One for me and one for Casey. I took my leftovers home. Tomorrow is my birthday and Yag already knows. It was in her calendar. Maybe we can leave early.

I plan on buying the rest of the lasers for my friends tomorrow morning. I am not going in until 1pm.

Also some recent pics of the BGA in action.

9 Days to 5 Days..

Sorry I havent written lately. I have been spending the last few days with my wonderful wife. I was so happy to have her here. Nothing is better than coming home to her and giving her a kiss. I remembered the feeling from Macau. We had a great time together in Shanghai although the problems I had at work. We went to a couple of nice dinners, and of course she got to see the pavilion and expo site. She actually saw a lot more than me. I havent been able to make it to the other side of the river yet. Thats where all the big pavilions are. On saturday before she left we went to the Bund and then to the WFC. We took the Bund Sightseeing tunnel. Where the say things like "massive magma" and "meteor shower" totally out of context. And not to forget those inflatable people in the middle of the road where the tram cars run. It was interesting. Also the World Financial Center is really cool at 450 meters and its glass floored observation deck. We also ate at the top of the Radisson which has a revolving restaurant. It was cool to see the city at night. Lastly we took the maglev back to the airport. Its amazing how fast it goes at 430 km/hr or 267 mph.

Thats it. We are going into full swing for the Expo and Nate is actually coming back. He is going to pick up where I left off.

Ill find out shortly that my wife made it back safely. Its amazing how time flies, but I was watching her flight. I love you honey.

10 Days - Hmm.. Tuesday

So Im not sure what happened and why my count is off, but I will try to figure it out later.

Terrie is here and we got invited last night to go out with the management team. I thought it was Korean BBQ, but it was infact just japanese food. We all had a good time and Yag was with her husband, Andrew, as well as Casey. Tom and Casey worked a really long day previous, and got home at 430am. So I wasnt surprised that Tom didnt want to go.

I ate octopus. And I got Terrie to as well. It was actually pretty good. Casey has had it before where it is still alive, and trys to crawl out of your mouth, and the suckers get stuck in your mouth. Not an experience I want to have.

Tonight I think we are going to to the supermarket and finding somewhere to eat. I think we are going to plan on Korean BBQ tomorrow night with Yag and Andrew.

Some other info. The problems that we have been having with the BGA, seem to be resolved, but the verdict is still out. I am testing as much as I can to see if the jitter comes back.

We also had soft opening Monday, and everything went really well. I made a small mistake, but we recovered quickly. Casey also helped me find and solve the problem. Lastly, Papa Johns is open!.. Along with the UFF (uncle fast food) in our pavilion. There is also a gift shop in our pavilion. I will try to pick up some stuff.

Thats it for today.

14 Days - Terrie is here!

So this is bittersweet that my wife is here. Just as we are having some major issues with the system. It will be a couple of long days onsite. Tomorrow is soft opening, in the morning too. I wasnt aware that it was in the morning.

Terrie made it fine, she was really tired. We went out for a nice italian dinner. I was craving it for a while. It wasnt exactly maggianos, but it was pretty good.

Ok not as much time to write since so much is going on.

Jason

15 Days- The Beret will be squashed

So we have come up with names for the artistic crew here onsite at the BGA. Which by the way everyone calls them producers. Not exactly what I think of a producer. Usually producers are the money people, that put up the money to put on a show. In this case they are actually the creative directors. Anyways, the couple, which are the ones responsible for "some" of the Beijing olympics, are really not good at coordinating anything. Also everyone is afraid of saying anything to them. Yag calls this the emperor complex. Sometimes I will ask my translator Mike to find out when the next time they want something run. The next thing we know mikes boss is there yelling at him, and asking him why we would ask such a thing. Truthfully I was asking because the motors overheat when they sit there servoing. Anyway the guy we call the Beret, because he always wears one, and the woman I call "the quack" because she always makes these loud bird sounds when she is directing the choreography. The third guy we call BB, for bossy boss. He really likes me, but can be difficult to deal with at times. There is a lighting director as well, but I feel like he knows his stuff. It was interesting to hear what Beret said about timecode. It really gave me the sense that he had no idea what it does, or what its used for.

Terrie will be on a plane in a couple of hours, so I am really excited. I already started stocking up on food and drinks for her.

Tomorrow before she arrives I have to go to the jobsite briefly to make sure everything comes back online after the power is restored, and then possibly pick up the tshirts I designed for the project. Then its out shopping for food and I think more lasers to finish that order.

One last thing that I thought was funny. How much gasoline can you stomach? I was going through security to enter the expo site and I had a half drunken bottle of tea. The officer actually asked me to take a drink of it. So then I thought, if it was explosives, how much could I stand? Im sure there are some incendiary chemicals that are not poisonous. Maybe alchohol?

17,16 Days - nothing new here.

Not much to report here in Shangai. Still utter confusion with programming the show at the BGA. We still havent synced anything with timecode, and the directors wonder why the show looks different each time. There is no one running this operation so things are chaos. We are getting these dinners (chinese bento boxes) which consist of some kind of meat with bones, rice and this nasty egg custard, which is not sweet. It looks like yellow jello milk. Anyways we showed the system to one of the big owners tonight and I think he liked the BGA, but was not to happy with caseys system, specifically the mirrored ball. We think it is going to be cut. I am excited that my wife will be out here soon. I have been working 12 hour days, and its putting a toll on me.

Thats about it. Time for me to go to sleep so I can work another Sunday.

18 Days - Still cold - No passport!

So today we had to go down to the visa immigration building to get my visa extended. Normally we just get a flight out of the country and when you re-enter, your visa period resets to 90 days. The head office at FTSI was insistent that we try to do this the cheaper way. Well it didnt turn out to be cheaper. We ended up wasting 4 peoples time today for about 5 hours. One of them was the general manager of Murayama. He had to be there because the visa people needed an official business declaration letter, which he wouldnt let out of his possession. So he waited with us along with a translator Yag and myself. The visa extension by itself costs around 140 dollars. We now have the take the GM of Murayama out to dinner and I have to go back to get my passport a week later. Yes, they took it from me. I was pretty pissed. A flight to Hong Kong or Macau would have cost around 200 dollars. Plus it would have given me a day off. The whole reason for doing it this way was to prevent me from going anywhere since this weekend will be hell. This weekend will be the third week in a row without a day off. I may have most of monday off, not sure yet, and I have off the Saturday when Terrie is here.

On a good note, Johna-son told me that Terrie will be an invited VIP guest to the soft opening of the pavilion. Its hard to believe we only have a few days until soft opening and the show still isnt complete. We haven't even programmed the system for timecode yet. Audio tuning hasn't taken place. A lot of work yet. If I were the director, I would be crapping in my pants at this point. My new favorite motto: "The people here are stupid and illogical, nothing I say or do will change their idiotic ways of doing things".

19 Days - Wednesday Frigid!

My feet are icicles. It is so cold outside it was hailing and snowing when I took the cab in. Also, its windy. Its that kindof wind that occasionally takes your umbrella, the really annoying wind. Things are not going so well at the site. The client seems to be unhappy with the performance of the system, mainly how often balls will drop from their knot. We always designed the system knowing that no person would be underneath it, and now they have totally changed their plan without letting us know. There would have been several things done differently. Too late now.

Anyways tomorrow morning we are going to some office to try and get my visa period extended. Im not sure how this will go. I know that Mclane tried this and couldnt get it to work so he had to leave the country. Thankfully he was able to go to Macau and help out the team over there.

Saturday I will go shopping for food and supplies for when my wife comes out. I am looking forward to her coming here. It will be fun.

Thats it for today.