First and foremost I apologize for not posting sooner, I seem to sound like a broken record when it comes to that line (in the next 5 years will we have to switch the phrase, or more accurately idiom, to 'scratched CD' as people will not have heard how a scratched record skips and repeats itself constantly).  Finally, an appropriate tangent that is relevant and meaningful.  

 Obviously our vacation is over, and yes, it went well.  We had a good flight over to the US with little fuss or trouble.  Alabama was beautiful and when stepping off the airplane and onto the tarmac in Birmingham the first thing I noticed was the sent of honeysuckle in the air.  Visiting my mom was refreshing and peaceful, Coco enjoyed the farm and visiting the town I grew up in, Camden, as well as seeing Selma, Greensboro, and Montgomery.  Too bad we did not get a chance to see Birmingham or the Gulf Coast but time was limited.  Sophia got to see horses and more green and blue skies then she will see for many years to come.  She loved the break evidenced by her return to laid back self and her skin completely clearing up as it had gotten bad before we left.  I will detail the visits later on as more time becomes available.  

Virginia was pretty exciting, even if I didn't get to see my best friend as he was at the time (no longer) deployed on a ship in the Persian Gulf.  Coco was amazed at all Hampton Rhodes has to offer, from Asian grocery stores to strip malls to the beach and even the neighborhoods (something that is a high priced luxury in China).  My god daughter was very excited to see me and we got to spend one full day together, unfortunately we didn't get to go see Spider Man or have a tea party with her.  Virginia Beach has changed a lot since I was stationed there nearly 10 years ago now.    

Leaving the states was hard, so hard that my laziness caused us to miss our departing flight and resulted in us having to stay an extra day.  I didn't want to inconvenience my friends wife and kids any more so we stayed in a hotel, an adventure in its own rights, and arrange a marathon set of connections to make it back to Shanghai the next day.  We made it back, minus our stroller (thanks you United and I AM lodging a very scathing and lengthy complaint for the flights over and back as well as the missing stroller {said to take 3 months to be returned}).  We made it back and adjusted to the time well but only had one day to relax before the grind of daily life picked back up.  

I got to work and waded through the 180 emails that had built up, had to deal with one of my project leaders taking vacation the day I returned by assuming his duties on top of my 2 others... that is what I get paid the big bucks for... yea right, speaking of which, I DID NOT get paid.  Checking with HR to make sure I still have a job and my co-workers are just too nice to tell me I had been fired.  I did bring back some goodies, like Jade Empire for PC, some movies, as well as software Amazon can't ship to China (all of it basically).  

Last weekend we all went to Century Park to enjoy a day out of the city, we have not been able to find any practical day care for the little one so this weekend we are having to send her to her grandparents in Guangzhou.  It is really really really hard for me to send my infant daughter away knowing I will miss her first words, steps, all the moments that happen in the first year that you can never recover and always regret missing.  Part of living in a culture that is so different from your own is moments like this.  Some culture shock is ok and expected, ones like this just plain suck.  Missing my child growing up was one of the reasons for me exiting the military in the first place, well more realistically about reason #8 or 9 on the list, but still it was there on the list.  

Coco is insistent we can still find a day care in Shanghai that accepts infants under 14 months of age and does not require us to have a person living with us or handing over my paycheck each month.  Still, if we have not found by now I doubt we will.  Time will tell and cheap air fares will make it easier as we will get an opportunity to visit once a month without sacrificing all her college fund or our retirement savings.  She may have to go to a public university and we may have to settle for different property or city then we planned but I can't stand being separated completely from my daughter for 1 year after the past 3 months with her.    

In the news, StarCraft 2 was announced at the WWI in Seoul, Michael Moore takes on the healthcare system and it turns out the Cuban issue with him was because of his stunt taking a 9/11 ground zero worker, who was denied medical care in the US, to Cuba for treatment and it cost like a 1/3500 of the price.  Chinese food ingredients are still causing problems, Spider Man 3 was so far off the mark by the end of the movie I had lost interest, about the time Spidey begged Harry (Green Goblin 2) to help him for MJ's sake and the politics of the presidency seems to have died down, thank goodness, as it is being replaced by actual congressional stuff and world politics... France's first conservative leader is many years!  We have a new office (and a new department), for 2 months anyway, then who knows.  I am busy at work and counting down the days to September when the two main projects I am working on will be over, then I will have time to make up all the training I have missed as well as some of the really great projects I have had to pass on due to being overloaded as it is.  More to come in June, as there will be a little more time on weekends to do things.