Madness In The Middle Kingdom

Well the “rhymes with angina” government seems to have done an about face on blocking blogsome and we are back in business baby!!!! Only Aerosmith could do this tribute

As mentioned in my previous post this blog is being blocked in China and even doing this simple post is a pain in the arse to do involving many layers and levels of proxy service. I have requested some assistance from the fine folks running this site but there isn’t much they can do so I am off in the hunt for a different blog service. I hope I can find something suitable .. or maybe the “rhymes with vagina” government will end their paranoia and free up the site. Who knows?

Not saying goodbye … yet.

Some of the blogsome sites are being blocked in that country that shall remain nameless but it rhymes with vagina. Mine unfortunately is one of them. People who live nearby me with blogsome blogs are not blocked. Not sure why.

I will continue to try to use backdoor methods to get around this thing but the posts may become less frequent in the coming days …. until I can figure out this thing

Carter has really taken to playing soccer and has shown some good skill with kicking and now dribbling the ball as well. As much as I would love him to be a great hockey player someday soccer is really much much easier on the pocketbook.

The moves …

Tonight Brad and Nathalie invited ourselves and the Englesons for a picnic in the park dinner and what a great idea! We ordered some Chinese takeout (Chinese you say? Go figure!) and spread out on the grass of a park that Brad and Nat go to often but we had no idea existed. The kids had a blast running around and kicking soccer balls and playing on the plastic cows. Thanks again Brad and Nat we had a great time.

We discovered that Nathan likes raspberries!

Still looking for the poacher that nabbed this plastic deer

Had a fantastic Father’s Day last Sunday. The day started with breakfast buffet at the Kerren Hotel. Mostly western breakfast food with some Chinese specialties thrown in. Then we played the Annual Father’s Day Roller Hockey Classic pitting the Slicks (city dwellers) vs. the Hicks (country cousins). Being from Quesnel it is obvious I was one of the Hicks. Much like the regular season the Hicks got their arses handed to them on a platter. Try as we might we couldn’t find a way to win. We lost the best of 7 series 4 games to 1. In our winning game we did manage to shut out the Slicks. Damn Slicks!

We rested in the afternoon in preparation for the 1st Annual Father’s Day BBQ put on in the square of Song Hai Li. It was organized by none other than Craig from The Engleson Files and what a fantastic event it was. Potluck sidedish and bring your own meat made for some good eats. The kids had a blast playing in the square and the parents stuffed themselves.

All in all a great day!

Some BBQ photos and video

Dish Up!

Lovely Alice

BBQ Ne’er-Do-Wells

The Yellow Shirt Boys - Magnus, Carter and Brendan

Nathan wearing the wife-beater taking a stroll with LaoLao

The video .. gotta clean that camera lens I guess

To the man who I think is the greatest in the world I want to wish you a Happy Father’s Day. May you continue to bounce high on the trampoline of life .

One of the longest serving members of the Dalian Ice Dragons has passed away suddenly. Lao Fu (old Fu) also known as Bai Jiu Wang (White Alcohol King) passed away this past Wednesday and we mourn his passing.

Lao Fu was one of the most colourful members of the Ice Dragons to be sure. He had a particular fondness for Bai Jiu which is basically Chinese moonshine that leaves with Biajiu belches for days after consumption. He could often be seen on hockey trips pulling a bottle out of his thick green jacket and when that was finished there was at least several pockets more. In 2002 when Yin Nancheng sprained his ankle in our first game Lao Fu came to the rescue by pouring baijiu into an ashtray, lighting it aflame and then scooped out the flaming hot liquid applying it to Yin’s ankle. Yin would often yelp in pain because of the heat but Lao Fu smiled through it all and kept saying “Chinese medicine” which all the Chinese members of our team would echo in agreement. “He’ll be playing tomorrow” Lao Fu said with a smile and wink. The next day Yin’s ankle was 3 times the size of normal and black as the ace of spades suffering a few burns. When asked about the “Chinese medicine” Yin replied “Monguo Daifu” (Mongolian doctor - akin to a witch doctor). As you can see in the picture below we have a not so healed Yin in the back row far left and a spry Lao Fu in the front row second from the right.

One of the happiest pictures I have

Lao Fu defined the art of “stay at home” defense. In fact after playing with him on and off for 5 years I really am not sure if he could actually skate. He usually parked himself near one of the face-off circles in the defensive zone and wouldn’t move the entire game even when we gained the offensive zone. Somehow this strategy so befuddled the opposing team that when skating in our zone the forwards seemed to be drawn to him like a moth to a flame> More often than not he would poke check the puck away from them and send it up to a forward. He claimed his father learned from the Russians and in turn taught him but this did not exactly epitomize the Russian style.

In the last few years Lao Fu was not able to make it to many hockey trips due to work reasons (he was working as a cook on a ship that was often months at sea) but he usually always made it to Yin’s parties and there we were treated to a baijiu fuelled one man comedy routine. I was worried that I couldn’t understand him much of the time because of my Chinese difficulties but even the Chinese guys said they didn’t understand what he was going on about. He was always good for a demonstration of Chinese Gong Fu (Kung Fu) and would often wind up on his arse on the floor.

I am gonna miss Lao Fu .. there will never ever be another one like him. If Heaven exists I hope when Lao Fu gets there God greets him by saying “There’s a case of baijiu here for you .. it never empties and there are no hangovers. Here are your skates. Lace up because we drop the puck in 5 minutes. Don’t feel the need to leave the zone.”

It seems like just yesterday that Nathan came into our lives but in fact it was one year ago. He is such a cute kid who loves to get attention with his little smile and he usually succeeds. This one is to you little Nate.

Ain’t I cute?

No I can’t walk yet

Why do I feel the need to embarrass myself like this? Can’t tell ya!

This one hit wonder from down under (actually New Zealand) is a band called Monte Video and the Cassettes. The video is called Shoop Shoop Diddy Wop Cumma Cumma Wang Dang. I remember liking this song when I saw the video aired on CBC’s “Good Rocking Tonite” originally hosted by Terry David Mulligan and then Stu Jeffries. Airing on Friday night at midnight it was Canada’s answer to “Friday Night Videos” and was loaded with Canadian content .. Bryan Adams anyone?

It’s been 24 or 25 years since I last saw this video and I have to confess .. I still like it.

Tonight while watching our sons argue over who was going to hold the ball and which tricycle should they ride Craig and I were discussing commercial jingles and their effect on the subconscious. Keep in mind we have lived in the same building for almost 3 years and commute to work in the same car every day and our sons are inseparable. When you spend this much time together you struggle for topics of discussion sometimes … anyhoooo.

The commercial is a powerful tool in that it has the ability to invade our subconscious and lie dormant until some small trigger sets off a flood of memories. Example - if I said “2 scoops” would you have thought of this jingle?

What commercial from the past do you think really struck a chord with a lot of people? It basically has to be
1) catchy little tune or catch phrase
2) a simple trigger elicits immediate recognition (ex. two scoops of raisins)

Post a comment.

This post is dedicated to my nephew Marshall (MeatBall) who was at the Neidermayer Hockey School in August 2006 and is going again this summer. He has aspirations of seeing the Stanley Cup there should Anaheim win it but Ottawa ain’t done yet. Anyway I put together 3 clips of some goals he scored during scrimmage at the school. He skates and scores better than most of these guys

but hey - we don’t have an ice rink to practice in.

If he keeps up this pace he will land a spot on the Dalian Ice Dragons for sure!
He is #16 with yellow blade tape on his stick.

Credits to Blakey D. for this photo taken at the end of our Nanjing hockey trip in April. All I can say is - you try to defy the logic.

As alluded to at The Engleson Files and Just Be Saturday night was a great night for a lot of guys with a lot of pent up energy. Doug and Gabe are getting married this summer not to each other obviously but we held a combined stag for the boys on Saturday. There was paintball in the afternoon and then we hit an all you can eat sushi place in downtown Dalian. When the first three courses are sea urchin, sea cucumber and abalone there is only one thing you can - drink sake. Details of the evening are hazy but suffice it to say that there was a Battle Royale in the middle of the city with many 30 and 40 year old guys acting 18 but feeling 88 the next day. A few minor injuries and some prides wounded but all in all one for the ages.

Doug and Gabe this song from the Bay City Rollers is for you

This past Saturday we held a combined birthday party for Carter and Nathan at the beach near our school. Alice did a ton of preparation and she pulled off a great party. We got comments like “might be the best birthday party yet”. Upon further discussion it was settled that for now we have the “best summertime party” and the Conradi’s skating party is “the best wintertime party” and we will leave it at that.

We brought the BBQ out to the beach and bbq’d hot dogs and chicken skewers. Alice also made potato salad, chinese noodle salad, chicken wings and spring rolls. Those boys are lucky to have her for a mama.

Da Boys

Lao Lao and the Ayi

Cake and presents

The boys got a huge haul of presents and they loved every one of them

They especially loved the “Bob the Builder” power tool set.