Well, there is a decently designed website found here which attempts to leverage its users information so that ALL of us can understand the costs of becoming an expatriate.

What's the definition of an expatriate? or expatriate worker?

The definition expatriate just means that an individual has decided to work in a country in which he/she is not a citizen.

Like me.

Do me the favor - and update the information about costs in the city where you live by clicking here www.bit.ly/intl-costs

Thanks, 

Parker

Perhaps you've wondered about the cost of living in your city versus the cost of living elsewhere - like:

What's the cost of living in Hawaii?

What's the cost of living in Oahu?

What's the cost of living in Honolulu?

What's the cost of living in Los Angeles?

What's the cost of living in Puerto Rico?

What's the cost of living in Shanghai? 

What's the cost of living in Tokyo? 

What's the cost of living in New York?

What's the cost of living in Chicago?

What's the cost of living in Madrid? 

What's the cost of living in 

Late September should be when you arrive.

If you're a weather wimp (i.e., you're from California), then you might have considered wearing shorts today. It was all of 32C (89F) today.

Within weeks it'll be maxing at 80F. Awesome.

This is the best weather. Sun, lightning sometimes, with rain. And less and less lightning/rain.

Love it here now. 

Hey, why exactly aren't you visiting?
Missed it - well then it's the same at the end of March ... except in reverse (and with less lightning).

PAF

Wal-mart... the brand that loves to toot its own horn.

Wal-mart with the budget to prove that it's holier than thou.

I can't take it anymore ... I'm officially ROFLMAO now after reading the article in today's Shanghai Daily, "Wal-Mart apologizes for new customer fraud"

NEW CUSTOMER FRAUD. Meaning, the 8th time in 8 months time that they've ADMITTED TO.

Dear Customers,
Don't worry, we'll stop cheating you. Trust us, this last time is only the 8th time in 8 months that WE HAVE ADMITTED THAT YOU HAVE CAUGHT US.

But trust us, we'll get better (at cheating you) in the near future.

Wal-mart

http://bit.ly/stupidwalmart

Oh, this is too much.

You're not going to lose anything... because you've already lost it.

Huh? You didn't know- well check out these 3 cities that caused it all. Then you'll know.

http://www.businessinsider.com/no-housing-bottom-in-sight-2011-9
 

Specialist Jon Town after being 2 feet away from a mortar round that hit while he was serving in Iraq, he:

• amazingly lived
• lost the majority of his hearing permanently
• was stripped of his rank
• was thrown out of the military
• lost all of his health benefits
• and was charged back 3000 dollars that he'd been paid as a bonus

WTF!?

Read about Jon Town here

So...

Jon Town - or any other US military veterans ... please send me your resume if you're interested in working for a growing company that would love to have dedicated, hard working people.

We are seeking veterans to fill sales and marketing positions. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, veteran, honorable discharge, job opportunity, entry level position

As per my previous post ... Christmas to Chinese New Years should be the time.

Next time you'll see him with the nasal canulas for additional oxygen.

The short version: A courageous Chinese government official who took the post as "Anti-Corruption" official - who just a month ago investigated the 2nd highest ranking government official in the same province - was found dead in his office chair.

Stabbed 10 times - with the fatal stab would to his neck (below his chin).

Police have ruled it a suicide.

ROFLMAO

www.bit.ly/10stabs

The idea that someone could stab themselves ten times to the neck, including once getting the main artery that feeds blood to your brain, once to the artery feeding your arm, etc ... and this is the persons idea of a good way to commit suicide ... hahaha.

Read the comments in the article. Hysterical.

A few months ago I was talking with a friend of mine. We discussed the most unlikely of subjects .... Steve Jobs' butt.

At the time, it struck me that our conversation was bizarre. Discussing the behind of one of the most interesting men on the planet and that his life expectancy could be measured in days ....

Steve Jobs years ago

Steve Jobs recently

As cancer patients progress, they loose massive amounts of weight - and that weight is critical. Apparently, my friend's buddy is an oncologist.... and he dated the amount of time left by how loose Steve Jobs' pants fit him on TV one time.

So while reading this article I recalled our conversation.

Look for more stories about Steve Jobs' contributions to our digital world, about his philanthropy ...

While doing my weekly perusal of www.chinaSMACK.com - which as you know has fairly regular articles which make any expat living in China truly ask themselves why they live her - I came across a wonderful article.

The bizareness, if you're unfamiliar with chinaSMACK is that the site essentially takes 'things current' in China, and translates them into English, and then comments on them. Awesome if you're a sinophile asking yourself "what do Chinese people think about?" or "What's current and newsworthy in China? (Or at least allegedly newsworthy.)

So, when I came across the "Silence of Love" post about the Thai insurance company's (apparently) TV advert ... wow was I surprised. Especially by posts like: "A short film just three minutes long moved me [to tears]. Even as I tried my best to restrain myself, I still ended up crying. The greatness of fatherly love!"

Personally, I loved the ad - and during my short stay in the States, I saw nothing remotely close. While I wasn't balling by its end (video latency helped me not too), I was tearing a little bit. Awesome advertisement.

Here's a link to the chinaSMACK article: http://www.bit.ly/pfcry  

And if you want to skip it, here's the video on Youtube

I'd love to know your comments.

Of course, the random rashes each week suck.

And the massive daily leg pain sucks.

Or the weird skin rashes I get on my thumbs now don't make one want to jump up and down screaming - "look at these cool rashes"!

My boy, PJ, walked away from the crash. He scratched his hand.

I collapsed my femur - 9 cms of bone were pulverised. The femur that remained tore through my muscles and skin and pointed up at the sun, as if in salute.

My tibia went from 1 long piece into 5 medium sized chunks, and more than 20 small chic-let sized pieces. Of course, it felt it needed to salute the sun too. It stuck through my skin just above my boot line. Pointing at the ground, no less.

My fibula was a wimp. Nothing was pulverized, and it only broke in half. It joined my tibia at saluting the dirt on the ground. Wimp.

My second toe (the one next to my big-toe) had something to prove. It broke clear through in the middle of my foot ... apparently saluting the sun is important. Thankfully, my boots kept it from poking through my shoes too.

While they returned me my pants (with all sorts of blood, they didn't return my left shoe, nor my sock. Apparently, they were too disgusting (LOL).

More information can be found:

here

Christmas sucked

more and more later