Saturday, July 5, 2008

Monster Ant! Run!!

Occasionally I take pictures of the Insects of Unusual Size around here but Junjian brought a new champion into my office the other day. Our air conditioning units have been broken since I've arrived here so we've been leaving our windows open (it doesn't help that much) to make drafts. The one in our office was finally fixed last Thursday but Junjian's has yet to be installed so we think this critter crawled in through her window. So far it's devoured three undergrads and a black special ops captain who was three weeks away from retirement. Once it reaches the chemical stockroom it will be all over....



Other than work not much is happening in Shanghai. The rains here seem to have come to an end and our air conditioning has arrived just in time for the heat. The sky is clearer than it's ever been and I can even see stars in the night sky.
My bike was stolen again last night, cable locks and all. It happened while I went to play badminton. By the time I had showered and returned to the lab it was dark so I ran downstairs to bring my bike inside. I spent ten minutes looking through the hutches but it had vanished. I realize that it's a common problem around here but really the campus could go a long way by installing lights in the freaking plazas. A couple nights ago I passed a girl as I was walking through the hedges and as I said "Excuse me," she shrieked and leaped backward into the hedge. She probably thought I was a giant tree ant, an albino one anyway.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

can't you install a homing device on these bike thingees? a gps system or something? they do it in the movies, well, maybe not on bikes but jeez!

Nick said...

See if you can find a run-down but serviceable bike for USD$10

Jon Peck said...

From the bike-theft capital of the United States (well, #8 anyway: http://tinyurl.com/5p3slx ) -- BUY A KRYPTONITE U-LOCK. It's the only way to go (yes, I know they cost more than a bike, but think of all the hassle involved in finding a new one...)