Major news pieces (that might explain why I haven't posted in a while):

• Jodi and I moved from Hongkou into a new place 5 minutes from the Jinjiang Park metro station, and 10 minutes from her work here in Minhang. It's an apartment with bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, and a study with lots of desk space (the previous occupant was a computer graphics designer). We have a date with the broadband install guy on the 5th of February. Why so late? Because...
• We leave Friday for a umpteen-day Chinese New Year vacation in Hunan. We're taking Poopy. This time we're going by bus because train tickets are unobtainable, and plane tix are RMB 980 per person.
• We got a new cellphone for Jodi, and the camera has much higher resolution than mine so look forward to better quality pictures on Flickr. Apparently Jodi was on a monthly subscription plan, so they had all her personal info registered. This was good, because after her cellphone was stolen she just called the company, had her number frozen, and today I went in to the service center at Shimen No 1 Road with her ID and mine, and got a new SIM card issued on the spot. Shweet. That's the silver lining to the loss of privacy that will descend on us all this year when registration-on-SIM-card-purchase becomes compulsory in China. Well, supposedly this year.

Things I'm supposed to write about when I get net access again:

1. "Chinese-style" Tujia-minority pizza, and counter words.
2. A series on my current core values and their application to real life.
3. A review of the book I'm reading, 上海里弄的保护与更新 (The Conservation and Renewal of LiLong Housing in Shanghai).
4. My visit to the American consulate in Shanghai.
5. Missing Shanghai in Hong Kong.