It has been a while

In case you have forgotten what I look like. The beard is to keep my face warm

Well, it has been awhile since I have taken the time to sit down and catch up on the stories from here in China. I have been so very busy and it has been difficult to get time when I haven't been too tired to sit and write a new entry. I am not sure where to start. As usual I have the disaster of work and the fun of dinners out with the gang and celebrations for milestones we have reached. I am going to have to break this blog down a little. I know you will get bored reading it if it ends up being too long. I will break this done into 3 parts. I will close out this blog and start another one for the last of the three parts. It will be put together like this. A night out after a very difficult week of work, a night of celebration after reaching our first safety level 1 and 2 milestones for our first tool installation and last but not least, my home leave.

I am currently sitting in the Seoul airport writing this waiting for my next flight to go back to China. If some of the writing or sentence structure doesn't look quite right it is because I just got off a 13 hour flight from LA. I just finished my first home leave and had a good couple of weeks home relaxing. More on that later. For now, I want to start off with the first part of this blog, the night out after a very long and difficult week of work.

I think it started out as a normal week but by the end, Danny, Brian and I had really had a troublesome week. It was not easy. All three of us were all going off in different directions trying to get things going. Our general contractor was still struggling with getting materials and parts onto the site and into China. Yet, we were still being held to our original schedule. We were trying to understand the true impact of the lateness of the parts and materials and the missing of the first milestones by the contractor. This was not easy. Suddenly, everyone wants to be involved in how to fix the problems and misses. No one is short of opinions. We could see that our contractor was not moving very quickly in procuring the stuff for us so we (Intel) offered up our assistance. We began to find we could actually get things moving quicker then they could. What this means is that we had to do the job we are normally accustom to doing but do not own in this project. We as an IQ organization and the experience Rami, Danny, Brian and myself have on installation of tools is so vast that we just know what has to happen and can get it done. What we were seeing is there were many organizations that just didn't have their part done and ready so we had to step in and do their jobs as well. We then had to fend off every one's thoughts and opinions as well as just try to do our jobs. Danny, Brian and I virtually didn't see each other all week long as we were going in all directions. We all worked until late in the evenings, at least till after 7:00pm, sometimes later. This after starting at 6:30 to 7:00am each day. So, by the time Friday came around, we were ready for some relaxation.

We started off on that Friday at one of the local hangouts for drinks. Danny, Brian and I met to get a drink. Brian had called Barb to meet us there but of course they were busy because she, Wendy and Pam had a very difficult day too. After all, they had shopping to do during the day, had to then stop for lunch (with wine of course), get their nails done and squeeze in a massage before they could meet us. That is fine, we started without them. It was buy two and get one free. After Barb, Wendy and Pam joined us, we got Mike there as well as Rami eventually. After we finished up there we went across the street to Flares for a bite to eat. This is when we started having some real fun. We ordered beer and wine. We attempted to order food but it seemed as though everything we ordered they did not have that night. There was Chicken Curry without the curry or rice. There was no spaghetti or lasagna, and no rice by itself. Some of the folks ordered the chicken curry without the curry and replaced the rice with french fries. I ordered the pizza. We all started to get our dinners but it was at different times. Pam and I were the last ones to get our food. Everyone else was done by the time we got ours.

The gang just waiting to eat

In the meantime, there was a bunch of Japanese folks across the room getting very drunk and toasting all the time. Every so often there would be a loud 'Ganbei" This is Chinese for cheers! After a while it became more and more frequent. So, not wanting to be left out of the party, our team began to join in. They would yell "Ganbei" and we would too. Soon, before we knew it, they were over on our side of the room and toasting again and again. When I finally got my pizza, I could not eat all of it so I offered the Japanese folks a piece. One accepted and another came to get a piece and I pointed to my wine glass first. He then went off and purchased a whole bottle of wine for me. I was not expecting this. Well, this went on for a few hours. More and more wine, more and more cheers or Ganbei. At one point we were and they were toasting everything. Also there was a time when Danny reached over and grabbed my head and kiss my round bald head. This seemed to really get the Japanese excited. They pointed over to one of their colleges and he jumped up and ran over. I was not sure what to think of that but the rest of the night Brian was toasting to the tune of not Ganbei bur DonGay. It was time to close shop at that point. The Japanese folks left and our team also left and went across the street to the Obsidian. We drank for a few more hours and then headed home. Jackie and Nicholas hung out all night waiting for us so they made sure we made it home safely.

Celebration and cheers start rising up across the room

What the heck is all the noise and ruckus?
As you can see, Pam wasn't so sure about what was going on either

By the end of the night we were toasting with the Japanese.Ganbei!
Jackie was waiting for Brian and Barb

Nicholas was kind enough to hang out to make sure I was safe

Well, we finished up that week with a bang. We were tired by the end but sure had a fun and relaxing time at the end. It is a real pleasure working with these guys. We are able to support each other and help each other get through the difficult times. It will continue to get busy and I know we are going to have very difficult times ahead. But, just look at the fun in a wonderful country we are having. It is all good.

Now, to go into the next week and what we did as a team. Again, the week started out being very busy and still behind schedule. We had not made much progress once again. This week we had a goal set and the schedule milestone set for a safety level one and two sign off for our first metrology tools. This was going to be a major accomplishment if in fact we could achieve it. At the beginning of the week it did not look possible. The whole team worked very hard and very close with our contractor to pull out all the stops to keep the tool on track and meet the schedule. Well, by late Friday afternoon, Bill was able to achieve the SL1 but not he SL2. That is fine as the SL2 usually happens a couple days later anyway. It just would have been good to hit both of them. Either way, this was a major accomplishment. It was our first safety level sign off and worth a celebration. Of course, we look for any reason to have a celebration.

For this celebration, Rami bought the drinks for the team until the women showed up and people beside our IQ team where there. That is fine, we got a lot of drinking in before everyone else showed up. We started out at Friends bar in Dalian on Saturday night.

A little blurry but it could be us!

We held our own until the better halves got to the party. Once the lady's showed up, all bets were off. They had spent a few hours in a social hour (or two) drinking wine. That started sometime in the afternoon. We had a good time just talking, drinking, having fun for the rest of the evening. Once again, when there is alcohol involved, Danny seems to like the top of my bald head. He kissed me once again and you know what, it started a chain reaction with everyone. They all began to pick on me again. We were toasting to DonGay and it just kept going. We obviously are a very loving group. Seems like everyone was kissing someone. All legit though.

Ahh yes, something about a bald head.

Rami loves Wendy.......

Brian loves Barb.......

Rami loves Danny.......
Everyone loves Don???????????????????????

I guess it is just that it is so cold here right now. We do have a good time. Once we finish up at Friends this night, most people were pretty well wasted. Luckily I was not as first, I don't drink a whole lot and second, someone has to stay sober to record all these events otherwise they would never remember the next day. Well, after this bar the gang decided to go to Alice Club. This is a local dance and Karaoke bar. A local hang out with very expensive drinks. We all went over there for a few hours and then from there people pretty much dispersed. I did find out from most of the attendees the next day, that they did not remember what they said or did the night before. I guess that is good for the most part because if all of them don't remember, then they don't know to be embarrassed or not. Also, the next day, most of them swore off drinking again. Yea right, I have heard that from them before and actually they do. At least until the next weekend.

Here is the female tribe.

Here's to you Danny Boy.

Here I am and.............

here are my Homies!

Well, I am going to close this now. I know it is long but as you can see, I am still having a good time here. Now that it is getting cold here, I will not be going out and about too much. I will be staying home and staying indoors where it is warm. It actually snowed here last week. Now that is cold for an Arizona boy. I will write another blog in the next couple of days to let you know how my home leave went. It was a good time to be home. I will also capture my endeavors of moving into my new apartment this next week. So much to talk about. Bye for now.

I think I am losing it

Another week and a half in China and things continue to mosey along. Nothing really exciting has been happening. With the start of real hands on work of moving equipment into the factory the hours in the day fly by quickly. It is not that there hasn't been anything to do but with work being so busy I have been so tired that I have not wanted to go out and do anything in the evenings. Even with a Halloween celebration that happened last week, I didn't have any costume to wear so I just stayed home that night.

This past week I was lucky enough to be invited over to Barb and Brian's apartment for dinner a few times. It was very kind of them to invite me. Both of them are good cooks and they take great care of me. They are always looking out for me. One night last week our normal group went out for a good Japanese dinner. We had a great time with a lot of food. As you can see we also had a good cook at our table preparing the food. At one point he flamed the shrimp. It was delicious.

You can see that we are about to enjoy our dinner. Brian, Barb, Danny and Alex are sitting here relaxing.

Here is Brian and I enjoying a glass of beer before the meal

Our Chef

Our shrimp

On Halloween Barb and Brian had Danny and I over for dinner. This was after we had worked all day in a task force mode. Unfortunately this was Saturday. If I had know we were going to have to work Saturdays here I would have never accepted the job! I thought this would just be a fun time and cheap way to see China. I am going to have to talk this over with my boss. Anyway, we had a wonderful chicken dinner that Barb made. Afterward we played a game called Mexican Train. This is a domino type of a game. It was a good game but Barb lost. We didn't rub it in too much because after all, she did cook dinner for us. She wanted a rematch after that so we decided to return on Sunday afternoon for a rematch. The next day, Danny and I met to go buy some more DVD's. I was able to purchase about 15 recent release DVD's for 95RMB. This is about $10 US dollars. Before Danny and I went back to Barb and Brian's we stopped and got a couple of pizza's from Pizza Hut. We brought it back to their place and had a good pizza dinner. After that we played the rematch of Mexican Train. Barb didn't lose this time but she didn't win either. Guess who came in last this time? It is a stupid game.

Now the beginning of this week started where last week left off with work. We are still behind, missing materials to install tools and began docking tools for move in to the factory. Monday morning we had our first process tool show up. This happened to be a tool I am responsible for. Well we started moving it into the factory and I got my first taste of what the winter is going to be like here. It was so cold and very, very windy. The temperature was 0 degree's C. That is 32 degrees F. Now, that with the wind, it was absolutely freezing. I had to walk to the dock and by the time I got from our office building to our dock on the fab, my ears were about to fall off. If anyone would have hit them they would have just crumbled. We did eventually get the tool moved into the factory and in place. A good accomplishment and just one of over 800 we have to move in. It is a start.

The next couple of days it was even colder out. We hit -5 degrees C. I have been told that in the middle of winter it will get close to -20 degrees C. I don't even know what that is in Fahrenheit. I just know it will be cold and the wind is going to kill me.

Now, tonight you may wonder why I am up so late? Right now it is 1:20 am. Well, I actually have not been up all night. I actually went to bed at 10:00 tonight. I fell right to sleep as I was exhausted. I was sound asleep and I thought I heard my alarm go off. I reached over and turned it off. I then finally got up, stumbled into the bathroom and took my shower. I shaved, brushed my teeth, got dressed went in the kitchen and made a smoothie to drink. I sat down and drank my smoothie. I turned the TV on to catch some news and at the top of the hour I was ready to catch my ride to work. I turned my phone on and noticed it said 11:58. I thought something happened to my phone. I turned it off and turned it on again. It still said 11:59. I went and got my other phone and it had the same time on it. I thought......oh no.....I then went to my room and looked at the clock......it was midnight. I was still not believing it. I went to the window and looked out. Other apartments had their lights on. Finally, for final verification, I turned my computer on. It verified that I was a complete idiot. I usually don't admit that because it confirms what my friend Don has always said about me, but none the less I am because here I am, at 1:30 in the morning and sitting fully clothed typing on my blog. If that is not an idiot what is? Well, I am now done and I am going back to bed. I can actually now sleep an extra half hour in the morning because I don't have to shave or shower.