Busy week, seems like a month

Well, the week is about over. It is Thursday night and it turned out to be a busy week. I didn't do much outside of work but it was a good week. I went out to dinner with friends on Monday. We went to a hot pot. This type of dinner is where you have a pot of boiling water with different spices and vegetables in it. You order off of a menu as to what type of food you want. You then cook the food in your boiling water pot and dip it in different sauces you make. You can order just about anything you want. The meat and fish are sliced paper thin and only takes about 30 seconds to cook. The vegetables are fresh and the beer even better. Anyway, there was 8 of us around the table, a ton of food (more then we all could eat) 2 bottles of wine and 4 large beers. The total bill came to 425RMB. This equates to less then $7.00 a piece for that much food and drinks. It was fantastic.

That was the most exciting thing I did all week. On Wednesday night I played badminton. Again, like always, it was a lot of fun. I don't think I am getting any better but none the less I am having fun and getting a good workout. This is not like your backyard picnic game, these people take if very seriously. So much so that my partner hit me a few time returning the shuttle. It actually hurt. One time he hit me in the head. Ok, so part of it was my fault for looking back at him, but come on.....your partner?

The rest of the week was really just filled with work. We are ready to go with the tool install start. Many people are in place and will begin the prefacilities work on different tools. That was scheduled for Monday, but it never happened. Here it is Thursday night and it still hasn't started. I guess we are going to have to kick some butt to get things started. We have awarded what we call a lump sum contract with a general contractor. This means that we will pay one price to the GC and anything beyond that need of installing the tool will now fall on the GC for any financial burden. That is of course dependant on if Intel directly caused problem with the contractor and delayed them in any way. Many hours work this week.

Tonight I was exhausted and we still have one more day to go this week. The thing to look forward to is a party on Friday night. It is Barbara's birthday and Brian is going to have one heck of a party tomorrow night with everything included. This means major fireworks. I am just glad I don't have to celebrate Kathy's birthday here. My co-workers have really set the bar high when it comes to birthday party celebrations. The theme of this party is a pajama party. You will only be admitted if you are wearing your PJ's. What am I to do? I don't have any PJ's. Some folks may be in for a surprise. Barbara and Wendy could not find pajamas here in China that were large enough to fit their husbands. So, what is the next best thing to do? Have some custom made by a little Chinese tailor. They actually call them a maker man here. These guys are going to have some fancy PJ's. I am sure they are going to look like Hugh Hefner. Custom made PJ were actually cheaper then purchasing already made ones. How do they do this kind of stuff here? I can't see how anyone can make a profit over here in China.

Well, I am taking my camera to the party so I will be posting some pictures. I just hope they are not to risky. I am getting tired right now and it is almost midnight so I am heading off to bed. I will post pictures and update blog this weekend. Until next time, bye bye.