Road to Hana

The road to Hana on the "far-side" of Maui is quite a journey. Alicia, Hyunjoo and I made the trek all the way around that side of the island in about nine hours of driving. We obviously had some swimming... but don't let that fool you. This road is so windy and narrow in parts that you'll be amazed that it's actually a "highway".

Like I said we did stop for some swimming in Wainapanapa State Park and at the Seven Sacred Pools area of the lower Haleakala State Park. It was a fantastic trip, perhaps the second time I've been all the way around. In the end, I'm sure we'd all recommend going out there.

Baby X

Phil just sent me the great news!

We now we have the cutest little baby boy to share with you all !

Born June 23 at 3:53 p.m.
Kanazawa, Japan
9 pounds !

After many hours of labor the baby did not move into the right position
so...J.J. had to have a C-Section... :-(

The surgery went off like clock work . J.J. and baby x (no name yet)
are
doing well.

I have attached some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Sorry for the Mass E-Mail. But I have to get back to the clinic!

Phil& J.J.

The guys in Moab

Just a walk in the park

Haaah? Whaddda say?

I'm sure everyone has heard about the "audio-repeller" that was supposed to chase away teenagers... and how the kids rebelled by turning the sound into a ringtone only they can hear. Wicked smart. Well if not click here to read the article. I've finally found another site that host the sound files for what I believe is true 18MHz files. You can also find a cool site that lets you check your hearing based on a frequency scale. I can here the sound on the NPR site, but not the 18MHz files from the other site. Very cool.

HJ's new nails

...and she just loves them!

Around and about

Casey and I went for a quick ride downtown to run some errands. He's determined to get new pins for his guitar. I believe we were successful ordering some new rosewood pins for his beloved guitar. We even ran into four first year KTC students. On the way back, I spotted this cool heron-of-some-sort. We didn't see the festivities, but the Hyakuman Goku festival was this weekend. The TV footage looked exactly like last year's event. We'll most likely go again before we move from Japan, but we didn't miss much this year. Thankfully the weather held and it was a great weekend.

\(^o^)/

I used to be (-_-#) because I couldn't understand a lot of (^_^)'s. But I began to research (^_^)'s for my computer classes and realized that asian (^_^)'s are different than what I'm used to in the States. (-_-¤) Well, I found some websites that are very helpful interpreting the (@_@) of (^_^)'s that are out there. They can be very (o_O) if you don't know what they mean. I used to be (._.) whenever HJ would write me and I wouldn't know what she was (9_9) saying. So now I'm \m/>_<\m/ and having a (b~_^)b time with my new found understanding. Take care (n_n)

Cockaroach!

I dunno what Hyunjoo goes on about... me over-reacting. Look, when I see one of these critters... it's all out war in my opinion. They might be able to survive the next nuclear holocaust, but they ain't gettin' by me and my double-slinging termination techniques. I might just have found out my next calling... bug busters!

Chase and Cole Hikin'

The latest pix from Carter. I'm envious!

Alone in the Car

There are some things you'll never get used living in another county. Perhaps it's the food. Maybe it's the language or a particular custom. One thing for me, that always catches my attention are kids in cars.

I took these pictures while waiting in the parking lot. This little guy, like all children here sit in the front passenger seat. His mom left him alone in the car for about 15 minutes. It was funny to watch him quitely sit there for about 15 seconds trying to figure out what was going on. Then, curiosity got the better of him and he grabbed on to the steering wheel and began to pull on it back and forth. I could hear the car's gears grinding away as he probably yanked on the shifter based on cues he'd most likely seen watching his mom. I realized that he wasn't even wearing his seatbelt.

They are lucky here not to have to worry about kidnapping or accidents to the degree where people can just leave their kids "in the shotgun seat". Heh, he seemed to be having a grand ole time.

SPAM Musubi

Here's an interesting one: I found SPAM musubi at the neighborhood convenience store. Now, I don't know where the first SPAM musubi was created, but I doubt it was here in Japan. I was having them in Hawaii before I was in high school. Yeah, haha. All you haoles are laughin... and I ain't gotta defend SPAM to the likes of you! But to put SPAM into historical perspective, the soon-to-be Americans living in what you call paradise back in the 40's had to make do during the war in ways the rest of the country didn't. Lots of stuff had to get shipped to Hawaii and not at the top of the list was beef and poultry. So Hawaiians had to make do with the rations they had: SPAM and Vienna sausage. Those products became apart of the diet and might be regarded as a hotdog is at Fenway. So yeah, I eat SPAM and I'm proud of it. I might not eat it often, or even occasionally... you could call it a "once-in-a-blue-moon" treat that reminds me of a home in Hawaii. Until recently we had to make all of our own SPAM musubi, but looks like things have changed... a little for the better.

Aquarium R/C

Hyunjoo and I found this cool little submersible that's perfect for our fish tank. It has a 6-channel radio controller that smartly moves the little critter we've begun to call "Piranah" along all three axis. The submarine charges off the controller and will zip around the tank for about 5-10 minutes before it needs recharging. Our fish don't mind, they just think Piranah is another fish in their tank. I'm quickly discovering that our 15 gal. tank is too small now!

KIT BBQ

Hyunjoo's office had a welcome party for Casey and Chieko, KIT's two newest teachers. We had yakiniku out on the patio with a full spread of beef, veggies, squid, salad and even a bundle of yakisoba. I was stuffed to the gills!

Miki Cote

It's a late announcement, but my friends Travis and Ericka are very happy to introduce the newest member of the Cote family: Miki! She was born back in February and I'm sorry not to get these pix up earlier. Please click on the album to see a full-sized slideshow!

First Videoblog!

Springdoo.com rocks! I've been using their services for a couple of months now and I love it. Katya recommended me to them and I just found out that they offer video services too, so I've been happily sending off video emails now. So, here's and adaptation of their service to my blog. Check it out!

Show me da money!

I didn't pick the best day to send cash home, but we're looking at an OK time to send money to the states. I botched the withdrawl form and asked for an equivalent of $115,000. I didn't figure that one out until the teller pointed to my bank book. Of couse I didn't have that much in yen, but how could I tell? There are so many freakin' zeros! It's like Mexico 20 years ago... "4,000,000 pesos - sure! here's your burrito!" Japan should just lop off two zeros from their currency and get with the program! Oh well, I sure did feel rich while I had the cash.

Biking through the bamboo forest

Please click to listen to the audio slideshow
It was a perfect day to go for a bike ride. I went up to the local bamboo forest (JPN010) to get some exercise. There's some pretty steep terrain and I vowed to get to the top of the foothills on my rickety 3-speed without stopping. I just barely made it in the horrible shape I'm in. Once on top I took in the view and enjoyed some quiet time before dashing at breakneck speeds to the trailhead.

Soccer-man: Cole

Cole-dude playing soccer. Hey Cole, what position are you playing? Check out those beautiful Uinta Mountains in the background too!

New photos from Carter

Click to play or click on the album to see the large slideshow.