Posted via email from beuk’s posterous

Despite all my rage, I’m still just a rat in a cage
Originally uploaded by beuk

As I walk around through life I like to ask myself, why?

Every time we take Frankie out we walk by the side of a building with a random assortment of potted plants. The interesting thing is that they are always there. There are no young hoodlums smashing them. There are no jealous gardeners stealing them. They also tend to flourish. Now, in the rain soaked island of Taiwan this may not be too hard, but still someone is looking out for these plants. Coming from the US it amazes me that in a big city (yes, Taipei is a big city) you can still do this.

So, besides the obvious question of why do they leave these outside, I had a second question. Three days ago there was a cage with a rat in it. Frankie smelled it late at night and went crazy. I, half asleep, jumped when I realized what it was. A poor lil rat was trapped in a cage and this got me thinking:

1. Why did they need to capture the rat? Was he eating the plants? How do you know it was this rat?
2. Why is he still there after 3 days? If it was so important to capture him, why is he not disposed of?
3. Do they expect the rats to stop coming now? (the sewer is 1 foot away)
4. How long does it take a rat to starve? And if you are humane enough to use a cage, why do you let him starve?

It just seemed very strange to me for the rat to sit here for so long. Especially, since my dog, baby, and I all pass this spot every day.

FYI: The title of this post comes from the Smashing Pumpkin’s song.

Gotta get this post up quick to scoop Rebecca. Frankie is home! After 6 months, 21 days, and more paper work than you can shake a stick at (pun intended) Frankie has once again rejoined our family. He and Gioia get along fine. They kind of ignore each other. Gioia is a lil “over it” and Frankie thinks G is a play toy when you swing her around too much. I can already see that the water bowl is going to be a problem.

For those of you keeping score at home, the current travel count is:

Frankie(5) – Chicago, Beijing, Shanghai, Nashville, Atlanta
Gioia(5) – China, Japan, Hawaii, Taiwan, Hong Kong, (coming soon: Singapore and Turkey)

So the question you gotta ask yourself is, has my dog and less than 1 year old daughter travelled more than you?
We can help you fix that ;) Come see us.

This is what I am going as for Halloween! See more pictures here.

Now I know what you are thinking: Chris is back behind the wheel after a two year hiatus and therefore he must be driving very fast, again. Well, that is not the case :P In fact I am the slow one on the interstate. Just ask my sister, who can not believe how slow I drive. I think the words she used were, “Learn to drive like a Chicagoan.”

In fact it is quite a different story. These two weeks in the States I have many errands to run, and rather than leave Frankie at home I bring him with me in the gas-guzzling SUV I have rented. Turns out he is quite handy. Parking lot attendants let me park anywhere I want without forcing me to valet. My car is watched constantly while I am away, and they always want to know that I will not be more than a few minutes. In addition, no bums bother coming up to the car with Frankie in it. That all said, Frankie does attract attention. He was an attention grabber in China, but that was because he was a big white dog. Turns out he is an attention grabber in America because… well, he is a big white dog.

While we were driving, a cop pulled up and waved me to a stop. Now I am driving like a grandma, so I know I am not speeding. He says, “Hey, what kind of dog is that?” Turns out he was intrigued and could even tell Frankie was beautiful through the tinted glass.

That stop was in the morning. The next time we were on foot, so I really wasn’t doing any speeding. I had just purchased a used camera and I was anxious to test it out. Turns out now a days you can’t just walk down the street and take pictures of the Sears Tower with a telephoto lens. Who knew? Well, I guess it makes sense, but a cop stopped us (Frankie was with me) and asked what I was doing. I told him and showed him some of the pictures. He then wanted to say hi to Frankie, who was more than happy to oblige.

Because you know all good terrorists carry a white boxer around with them, right?

Frankie and I have arrived in Chicago safe and sound. I could not sleep well during the fight as I was way to anxious. My seat mate had the exact opposite problem. He went to sleep during take off and 13 hours later woke up when we hit the tarmac (jerk!).

Anyway, I thought I would share some of the crazy thoughts and notes I took during my flight insomnia. Enjoy:

Here’s a thought: With the amount of traveling that B and I do, I think it would be very hard for anyone to haunt us.

Elastic stretchy pants should be outlawed.

What is Mr. Bean’s job?

Why can’t they make the whole plane out of what they make the noise canceling earphones out of? (yeah, I know this is the blackbox question)

Are all Americans so chatty? The bursar sat in the jump seat and was a talkin-talkin’. She went on to explain how she was an English teacher. “That’s funny”, I said. “I would have thought you were a flight bursar.” (Now I know what put my seat mate to sleep.)