Madness In The Middle Kingdom

If they ever change the routine from floor exercises to bed exercises (easy with the off colour jokes now!) then Carter is sure to be in medal contention. Check out the routines … the precision … the artistic integrity.

Carter takes the time to explain to you all the sounds of the various animals in Chinese (with some audio prompting from mama of course). See if you can guess which animal is which.

One of my best buddies from high school has been bustin his hump (he doesn’t ACTUALLY have a hump) for the past 20 years or so in the music biz in Vancouver and it looks like some good things are happening. We’ve been out of touch for a few years (say less than 5) but just got an email from him the other day and look forward to seeing him in August if it all works out. Check out his website The Scott Perry Project and listen to a few of his tunes. I recommend James Dean which is a song about a guy he met one day while busking in Vancouver whose name was actually James Dean and had actually had a heart attack at 17. Scotty thought this a good subject for a song and he was right. It was one of my favourite Orbit in Bloom tunes from the Christmas tape in 1990 (or 1991 can’t remember). Still have the tape at my parents home in Quesnel.
See ya soon

While strolling through Lao Dong Gong Yuan (Labour Park) on Alice’s birthday (March 19th) we came across these folks doing an impromptu concert. Music to put you to sleep tonight!

Zai Jian (goodbye in Mandarin)

Doesn’t he look like a ticked off Communist Party Official?  Hey .. he was getting his passport photo done.  Does anyone have a good passport photo?  Then quit laughing at my kid!

I went to Beijing on Tuesday by train (Monday night sleeper there and Tuesday night sleeper back) to do Nathan’s passport.  We found out they are now all done in Canada which is going to delay the process somewhat and puts us on pins and needles for getting to Canada in a timely manner.  Aside from almost losing my train ticket home AND my money belt it was a fairly standard day in Beijing.  There really isn’t much to this story other than to post the picture of Nathan so that it can be globally mocked!

By the way his Chinese name ZhongJia looks like this 中 加

Cheers From China

I was browsing through some old pics stored on my computer when I came across two beauties from my earlier years.  The first is from when I was 16 and got into a fairly serious car accident with a logging truck.  It wasn’t my fault despite the fact that I was only 16.

The second is one that I have entitled porn star cause I think that if I was to be a french porn star I would look like this ….

And for the folks who know me now as fat and bald and out of shape let me just say that all the talk I do about doing triathlons and doing a 40 minute 10K in 1993 in Kamloops is not just blowing smoke.  I was in shape at one time and unfortunately I have to admit that I did wear spandex … COME ON I WAS A CHILD OF THE 80′S!  Anyhooo … this is me in the peak of my aerobic condition the day after doing the Big Chill Winter Triathlon (10K ski, 10k run, 1k Swim in a pool by the way)

Thankfully I don’t have anymore of these gems cause frankly it makes me sad to see that youth slide away  … until the next post. 

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!  So the only question is  .. when youse comin’ back to the Middle Kingdom again?  Ya gotta see the baby!  Hope you had a great BDAY Jeffy!

 June 9th, 2006 at 5:57 AM Nathaniel ZhongJia Brown came into this world at a healthy 10 pounds.  Alice said she didn’t feel very much pain which is amazing.  She is an INCREDIBLE woman and a fantastic mother!  Babe - Carter and Nathan are lucky to have you.

Mom and baby come home from the hospital today and I can’t wait to get them home.

Carter has been just fantastic with Nathan but he is still trying to get used to Mama baobao didi (mama hold/take care of little brother).  He already told Nathan he is going to teach him how to walk, talk and run!

I am so blessed to have such a beautiful wife and two very very cute sons. 

Hello all .. I am brand new to this blogging thing but the help of many good friends has enabled me to get this blog off and running.  I thought it fitting to put one of my favourite pics of Carter as my first post.  The kid is a natural ham … just like his daddy!

Look forward to more exciting news and events from Zhongguo (Middle Kingdom - which is how the Chinese refer to their country).