John and Charles Robinson

Finally went with something kind of industry-standard. 1U, RAID-5 and snappy! Time to shut down the 4U dinosaur that's in the racks in St Paul. It served us well, but its time is over!

Kiss the old server goodbye!

It's been a noneventful winter. Pretty damned warm throughout most of it, and precious little snow. About a week ago, we emerged from something like 21 days below freezing -- much of it with overnight lows below zero, and daily highs barely into two digits!

We finally got hit with about 1 - 1 1/2 feet last weekend, and it looks so nice! As I write this, we're in the middle of another snowfall that's been trumpeted as "A Really Big One", but which so far is failing to impress with the density or depth of the snowfall. One thing I'm seeing, though, is a bit of frozen slush starting to form on the streets as the temperature finally falls below freezing again.

We'll see how this develops -- it's supposed to go for another 12 hours.

Charles and I arrived late Wednesday night. Enterprise was out of compact cars, so they gave us a Chevy HHR. It's kind of dorky, and kind of cool at the same time. Certainly better than the Cavalier of two years ago! We arrive at the HI by 11:30; most people had already gone to bed, but we had time to share a few beers and conversation with AnnDee & DeeAnn, and Dave & Don.

Thursday was an easygoing day of grocery shopping: cereal, milk, orange juice, copious amounts of bottled water, BEER, MORE BEER, and some wine. We stocked our fridge (in room 224, "sort of" overlooking the courtyard just outside of the indoor pool) and went to the kickoff luncheon at the Hilton Garden Inn. Food, as always, was good. However, as always, it ran long and we were sweating the schedule because Charles had promised to spend some time with Kieu, doublechecking the computers and networking that she was planning to install in her new 2nd store for her booming jewelry business. We ran out of there after we'd received our thank-you plaque, but before it was over.

Things went well at Kieu's, and we got back to the hotel. We'd been sweating "what to do?" about dinner on Thursday night, because there was a LARGE GROUP planning to go to Russo's, and frankly, we weren't in the mood to be a part of a LARGE GROUP there this year; 2005 was already too large, even though the food was great. Jeff & Steve told us that they'd made the reservations, and left it in Doug & Ross's hands. We contacted them around 5:00 and said "do your thing; we're frankly not that hungry. It doesn't make sense to spend $40 each on a meal that we're not hungry for."

Well, eventually, we ended up doing our "Applebee's" tradition: a small platter of the riblets and a couple large beers -- just something to put a layer down to absorb some of the alcohol to come! Usually, we're the only twins there, but tonight our server said "you're the 9th set of twins we've seen tonight". Food was good, and the party at the HI agreed with my slogan "Thursday is the new Friday". We drank, we chatted, we milled about and drank some more -- athough neither of us took very many pictures compared to previous years. Pool was, surprisingly, completely wide-open when I went past around 3am.

True to tradition, we got to bed superlate. Two indications of our state of inebriation:

1) we only know that we went to bed somewhere between 3am and 4am -- but neither of us can be more specific than that.
2) there are pictures on my camera that I don't remember taking. Charles doesn't remember being there, but he's in some of them! oops.

Friday: day off! We looked out the windows somewhere around 10:30 - 11:00 am and glimpsed the bright daytime sun. We didn't feel too stable, but I think we were doing a little better than the year before, due to copious amounts of water consumed between beers. (I'd had the theory that we'd drink more water if we just had shitloads of bottles instead of trying to choke down the meh tapwater at the hotel. I think I was correct)

We brought our breakfast out to the courtyard, and sat down with Art & Pete and some others. After food, still a little shaky. Tried the "hair of the dog" theory with a Mike's. Didn't really work. Charles was way out of it, but it turned out later to be exacerbated by the onset of a bad cold.

Drove by the TDFC office to say hello, and up to the school to pick up our registration packet. They were in a tizzy because the newspaper had mistakenly said that it started at 2:00 (instead of 4:00). Also, Sandy had forgotten to register us. Got a phone call from Carol & Cheryl inviting us to lunch at The Winking Lizard. Now, normally I would avoid a place with a name like that, but we like these women and besides, we're here to socialize! After Charles' GPS took us to the wrong one, we found ourselves at the correct one, right where we'd thought it would be before giving ourselves over to technology. Food wasn't bad, and they had a LARGE variety of beer. A sad comment on Charles' condition is that he couldn't finish his. So sad. After lunch, stopped by Giant Eagle to replenish our supplies.

Hot Dog dinner at the school: same old thing, with the addition of bouncy things for the kids, and Hot-air balloon rides (pretty much straight up on a tether, then back down). Nice to see all the faces, though, and we got to meet several sets that we'd previously only 'met' online). Tried to arrange a dinner option with Beth & Becky (back after two years off for procreation!) but the raffle ran late and it was really time to get back to the hotel and prepare for the night ahead. Risky: drinking hungry!

Well, the party was as crazy as the night before -- and again, not many pictures to show for it. We determined that the big bulky cameras that take the cool pictures are nice for a lot of situations, but in a casual night-party atmosphere, a dependable P&S that you can stick in your pocket (and/or hand to friends to take snaps) is the way to go. Will have to make arrangements for next year. Got to bed at, um, 4:00? Not sure really. Boo -- pool locked tight!

Up early (7:30) for the parade. Due either to even-more-copious water consumption (or was it the "anti-hangover" pills that Peggy & Patty were handing out at the hot-dog dinner?) didn't feel too bad, except for the short night of sleep. Shower, dress, gulp down cereal & OJ, fill cooler, drive like mad to the parade start. Tried to say "hello" to Danielle, a producer for the Joe O'Grady show on ITV ch. 4 in London (and with whom I'd been exchanging e-mails and phone calls prior to the festival) but she was too busy to even turn around. Ah, well.

Sunny, beautiful, perfect day with a refreshingly-cool start. Parade was as it always is: mill down the street, chat with twins, maybe get your picture taken (odds are better if you wear a wacky outfit). Then, spend the day milling through the festival grounds doing more of the same. Take some pix along the way. Chicken BBQ dinner, reliably excellent. Contest tent: hot and frankly a little dull. Talent tent: sometimes entertaining, sometimes painfully, achingly, embarrassingly bad -- but so charming for that in a "you are now in Real America" kind of way. Then, the interminable wait for the Group Picture, out on the hill in the crowd under the blazing sun. After that, back to the hotel for a nap -- and where did the day go so quickly?

Saturday evening: traditional night out to dinner with Jean & Jill. They take us to a place they've learned about called "Moe's", which apparently gets great props from other people in the food industry. It's an unassuming little place, pretty much a little dining room adjacent to a little bar. We're seated in the bar, which is just fine. Our server is friendly, knowlegeable and really engaging. Jill's rare steak comes back medium-rare and my medium-rare steak comes back medium. I finish hers and nobody finishes mine. We tell our server about it, and get quite a reaction: the owner comes out to personally apologize for the mistake and tells us that they've "taken care of" the steaks in question. Dessert (which I've forgotten) is also quite delicious, and we come away with a very favorable impression of the place.

The night progresses with chatter, drinks, milling about, and a few pictures here and there. I peter out somewhere around 5:00am, but Charles makes it to 6:30.

Sunday am: sleep in. Eventually get up and prepare to go to the grounds again. We return Jean & Jill's cooler to them, stuffed full of the water we couldn't finish. Check out of the hotel, and they've got signup sheets for next year. We fill one out, full of hope for next year.

The new management of the hotel really wants to do right by the twins, which is okay by us -- the last few years, management had been doing nothing but cutting costs to jack up the numbers and make the place look good for a sale. The new management looked at the TD weekend prices and said "those are too high", and lowered them for next year by $20/night ($10/night for Thu & Sunday)! It's a small step in the right direction.

Anyhow, out to the grounds for a casual walk around. Sunday is a nice day at the grounds because it isn't so gosh-darned CROWDED -- you can take time to talk with people. We sat down at a picnic table with Nick & Jim and had a really nice long chat. Take a few more pictures, have a nice BBQ Chicken Dinner (no line today!), drift on over to the beer garden, say a few goodbyes, find Sandy at the merch tent and say farewell to her as well. Drive to the airport, spend a couple hours working on iPhoto albums before getting on the plane. Uneventful flight home. Thus ends possibly the most fun weekend we've ever had together.

Pictures here:

John's pictures
Charles' pictures

My, it's amazing to all of us how the time has flown. All six of us got together at last year's Twins Days Festival and managed to carve out some time to watch the DVD that I'd made of our trip together. I set up an MD recorder and ran it while we watched, with the idea of annotating the video with subtitles (or adding a "commentary audio" track, but that'd be a little messy). Just came across the MD's the other day when I was looking for blanks to use to record a friend's wedding ceremony. Gotta do something with them someday.

As April 2006 moved along, I found a little part of me wishing that we'd get another e-mail: "2nd festival, will you join us?" It was a foolish hope, so I didn't make much of it. Nancy and Sara had heard from Ling Sum that there wouldn't be a festival this year. Alas, so much for "first annual"!

Now, the only landmark that we have to look forward to is Twins Days 2006 -- not that that's a bad thing! A small change in the way things are done: the Holiday Inn Hudson was sold to a new company. The new owner didn't buy the entire facility, however -- the "annex" section, comprising our room and the outdoor pool (!!!!) was NOT a part of the deal. That means that this year there will be 30% fewer rooms, and we need to find a new place to hang out during the afternoons. I've always hated that indoor pool, but absent any alternatives, maybe it'll look better? Well, we'll find out in a short while.

Meanwhile, the "quest for clothing" continues (when you're photographed hundreds of times in your outfit, you feel funny about "repeating" anything). I've found us some nice black golf shirts at Land's End, and Charles scored us a pair of "fun" shirts for Friday night. Gotta keep our eyes open. Meanwhile, stay in shape, enjoy the summer, and hope that Northwest Airlines stays in business long enough to get us to our destination!

Twins Days 2005 is fast approaching. I've been cleaning up stuff around the office, getting ready to leave everything behind for two weeks (I go to California for a family vacation right after the festival).

We've learned from early arrivals that the whole Holiday Inn Hudson is now WiFi. I'm dreaming of web-cams! It'll be nice to have access everywhere (and save the $10/day access charges, to boot).

This year will be different: the Thursday luncheon will be at the Hilton Garden Inn, instead of at the Holiday Inn Hudson. Means that we'll have to tweak our race from the airport a little bit, but should still be okay.

Man, I'm looking forward to seeing everybody and just relaxing for a weekend!

Touchdown went very smoothly. Baggage claim, immigration, customs, no problem. Nancy & Sara were sweating their connection, but their local transfer to Lansing was delayed -- so they ran to their gate for nothing. Charles & I found the "happy shiny jazz lite" in our terminal to be intolerable, so we're sitting at the gate with Nancy & Sara (and a welcome AC outlet).

Flight from O'Hare took off more or less on time; we went up, grabbed a beverage, ate some pretzels, and read our books and magazines quickly before being told that it was time to put them away. The trip has gone rather smoothly. The adventure is over!

A little more food, a few more beverages, another nap and suddenly the trip is almost over. Watching the map of our progress, I noticed that Minneapolis was showing. Well, fancy that! This flight has been a cakewalk. It feels like the time transition isn't going to be much of a problem, either.

Slowing down as we approach Chicago: ground speed now only 505 mph.

We quickly did the math and realized that it was highly unlikely that they'd get through security before we needed to be at our plane. We picked up our stuff and headed for our gate, stopping at the way to change RMB 600 into USD 72, plus a little RMB in change.

As we got near to our gate, United Airlines employees approached us asking "United 850? This way, please." Huh! Wonder what made them think that we were Westerners? Everyone headed to the gate, but I popped into the restroom. I came out, turned the corner to the gate and saw that the boarding area was empty, and the sign over the door said "LAST BOARDING CALL." Ooops -- but it was only 16:10, for a 16:35 departure! I apologized and quickly got on board.

We took off about on time, after an early push-off from the gate. We figure that the captain knew he'd have a long wait after push-off before getting a spot to take off. The flight attendants noticed that we were twins, and we got to share our story briefly. We read, supper was served, then I took a nap. I was surprised when I woke up and discovered that I'd been asleep for almost four hours! I turned on the map and saw that we were just about over the North Pole, the trip half over. A pleasant surprise, indeed.

Gates opened at precisely 13:35. We were shunted to a "security check" table, where I was waved through and Charles was thoroughly inspected. (Nancy got waved through and Sara was thoroughly inspected, just like last time.) After that, we checked in for our flight. We got window seats, but in row 40. Sigh. That's nearly at the back of the plane. Went to the little table and filled out "departure cards" stating name, home address, passport number, etc. then went through Border Control (pretty much a "stamp the passport/wave them through" operation). Then, to security where our bags were scanned again, and we were scanned again. I had to remove my laptop from my carryon, then they ran the carryon through the machine again -- but they never looked at my laptop! I had to open the three juice packs I had, rendering them unfit for any more transportation. In my annoyance, I just left them there. A quick scan with the wand to verify that the beep was caused by my belt buckle, and I was in!

We went to gate 13, where Charles & I asked about getting seats further forward -- no dice. We found a restaurant and had what was actually a pretty delicious meal (braised beef and noodles in a big ol' bowl of soup, and add a Beijing beer to the mix). Last chance to use chopsticks! Charles discovered that it's easy to chance RMB for USD -- if you have the original bank receipt from your USD-->RMB conversion. He returned from the Bank of China outlet disappointed -- until I found that I still had the receipt.

We're sitting just on the inside of the last security perimeter on the off-chance that Jean and Jill will get through security before we have to board our flight. It's unlikely, but we were so distracted this morning that we didn't really say a proper goodbye.

SAT 12:28 (/Fri 23:28): Departure

We woke at 6am to a grey overcast sky. I updated the blog, said "see you soon" via iChat to a few friends and relatives in the US. Showered, finished packing. Nancy came down the hall to say that Sara wasn't feeling well -- she was a little freaked-out about what to do if for some reason they couldn't make the flight. Toby had been called, and came over with 1) an herbal remedy, 2) a common drugstore remedy, and 3) a prescription-only remedy. Charles handed over some medicine that he had -- I seemed to have misplaced mine.

Nancy, Charles & I grabbed a quick bite in the hotel restaurant (three hard-boiled eggs for me!), then we headed down to the lobby to meet Toby, Karya and Mr. Yi. We tossed our stuff into the car & van, and headed off to the airport.

The tangled mess that is Kunming traffic presented itself to us, but traffic is much easier during the day than it is at night; we got there pretty quickly. At the airport, Toby helped us to find our check-in gate; we got checked in, then a quick round of handshakes (the chinese don't appear to be a hugging people, so I didn't try), and we were off. I'm such an old softy; I nearly cried as we entered Customs.

We found our gate, sat down and waited for our flight. It was announced and everyone JUMPED for the gate -- just to stand and shuffle in a slow line for 10 minutes. We waited until it had considerably lessened, then got in line.

The plane was a 757, seating configuration 3 x 3. Narrow seats, short pitch, full plane, and our seats were nearly at the back. Many passengers dropped off to sleep almost immediately. Breakfast was okay -- a hot bun, a spring-roll kind of thing with a solitary pea at the end, another doughy dumpling with some kind of sweet filling. Another container had a mess of grape tomatoes (I wasn't in the mood). Yet another contained some rice noodles, all bundled up like coils of rope. I skipped the pickled whatever that they were sitting next to. "The Cooler", with William H. Macy, played on the overhead video screens, while the man in front of Charles did some amazing snoring. And so three hours passed.

Beijing: the International Airport wasn't nearly as intimidating the 2nd time around. We grabbed our bags from baggage claim, breezed through the "nothing to declare" line, and headed to the "international transfers" desk. Whoops, wrong desk. Redirected to the 2nd floor for "International Departures". Flagged off people asking to help us with our baggage (been there, done that. Besides, the baggage carts are complimentary in China!). Breezed through another security check (the man waved us through; we didn't even have to scan our bags) and found the United Airlines check in counters. Roped off and closed. A woman nearby heard us wondering aloud when they'd be open. "1:30, I was told," she said. So we opted to just take our places at the head of the line, sit on the floor and wait.

It seems like only a week ago that I went to bed late, slept poorly and woke up too early in anticipation of a big travelling day!

The sun is not yet up, and a grey mist is hanging over the town. In an hour, we'll be in the van on our way to the airport. If all goes well, the next post in this blog will be from Minneapolis, late Saturday night.

Thanks for all the comments; it's been fun seeing who's reading along. Sharing this once-in-a-lifetime adventure with everyone has been a real treat.

We spent the day shopping! After breakfast, we met in the lobby around 9 AM. We hit a supermarket (booooring), an indoor flea market (cool!) and an outdoor flea market (supercool!). This was the first day that we were given the opportunity to spend our own money. First, some of us had to make an exchange at the Bank of China. Curiously, we needed to show our passports to make the exchange. They also won't take bills that have any rips or tears... but it's okay if one of the bills you get back is taped together.

Toby was our "haggler" along the way; we'd find something that we liked, then ask him how much. He'd pass the question along to the vendor, get an answer and make a terrible face that pretty much said "you've got to be [blank]ing kidding me!" Usually, the price would go down by about 60% by the time the deal was struck. Charles made his own deal at one place. Toby found out, talked the vendor down and got RMB 5 BACK from the vendor and gave it to Charles!

Along the way, we had lunch at a place called "The Brothers Jiang". You get a big ol' bowl of soup, superhot! You also get a bunch of little plates with thinly-sliced meats and veggies and spices on them. Toss them into the soup with the bowl of noodles, stir it up, and it cooks there in front of you. Eat 'em up, yum!

Then, we spent some time in Green Lake Park; just beautiful, and full of people due to the seven-day holiday that we're in the middle of. Came across a group of musicians playing by the pond, and sat down to listen. Our western presence was noted, and they segueued from the traditional Chinese tunes they were playing into "Jingle Bells", then "Yankee Doodle Dandy". We were touched; I got goosebumps, actually. It was so sweet, and it sounded so good! It seems that every day I have an emotional-high moment. That was my high for the day.

We stopped at a little restaurant for some ice cream (!), and off to another open-air market that rocked our world (pictures later). We all managed to get the stuff that we needed to get for the people on our lists. After that, off to another restaurant where "Steven", the head of the tourism company that brought us over here, treated us to quite a feast. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a CD store so I could get two things: 1) some loud Chinese club music like what we've been hearing at places like the Tomato Festival, and 2) some traditional Chinese music. I walked out with 3 CDs for RMB 41 (maybe USD $5). Just silly-cheap.

Going down to the lobby now to have "one last beer" with Toby. Our flight leaves at 8:45 AM, so he'll be picking us up in the lobby at 7AM (that's Friday, 6PM to most of you reading this). Shouldn't stay up too late tonight; tomorrow's gonna be a long one!

I got so excited about trying to upload it, that towards the end I forgot to edit. You'll see a LOT of pictures of the Soil Forest (sometimes you'll see three different attempts at a shot), but here's a first glimpse to hold you for now...

My Chinese Photo Album So Far

In less than 24 hours, we should be on a plane heading home.

It had never occurred to us that you have to ask at the front desk to have a functioning internet connection in your room. We took great pains to make sure that no english-chinese translating people would leave us alone until we knew that the connection worked. And, it's working! Hooray!

All of the blog entries have been made, and now it's time for a shower (really, I still have tomato and sand on me) and down to the bar for a well-deserved beer or five.

Can't change into clean clothes, however, as they're in the car with Toby.