Here in Vegas

the flight... immigration... driving around vegas...

Goodbye Kanazawa... Japan

Only a few hours left on the countdown timer.

We've packed, shipped our stuff, and cleaned. We've said "goodbye" to many wonderful friends. But it's difficult to say "thank you" for all the good times, and for all the support in a way that really covers everything.

We'll soon be looking for a new home and a new life.

Back to you on the flipside.

Home strech

A few days ago the guys came to grab our furniture. Then the moving company came yesterday to grab our clothes and other personal effects. Today, we're waiting to meet the real estate folks to close up the apartment.

When we finish with that, we're doing small errands and finishing up business with school.

The exchange rate has been dropping, but that was after we had sent the bulk of our funds home - oh well.

We're left with saying goodbye to a lot of good folks here.

Casey asked about the future of this blog, and my first reaction was to just keep it going. I think I'll keep with that. It's just that my definition of "home" is going to radically change pretty soon.

Yukon HQ Sport Kite

Went out to CCZ again with Casey today to try out his Yukon. We were getting what felt like consistent winds, but it wasn't enough to fly the Yukon for longer than about 15 minutes or so.

I was impressed with the kite for a number of reasons:

1. it looks solid - carbon fiber/fiberglass construction
2. it flew well - very responsive lines
   
3. it packed up nicely - came with a nice carrying case
   

Testing Casey's Kite at CCZ

Casey, his friend Sean and I went to the beach yesterday. We took a quick trip to Kanazawa's CCZ to try out Casey's new kite, but unfortunately we didn't have much wind. We ended up body surfing and throwing the frisbee around instead which was fine by us.

Kickin' it at Kenmin Pool

Yuko-san gave us directions to a great community pool not far from us. It's right on the ocean, although you can't actually see it from the poolside. Even though it was pretty busy, we had all the room we could need at the "adult" pool - an Olympic size pool right in front of us. Next time we'll have to try waiting in line for the water slides.

KIT's Electric Car to Race at Suzuka tomorrow

I am very proud of this project because one of my students, Tomonori, is responsible for the electric motors on the car. He built all of them! Let's wish them luck tomorrow.
Click on the pictures to view a larger slideshow.

Yamato (Black Cat) Movers

Mr. Yamada from Yamato Shipping came by this morning with Omi-san of KIT. We had an appointment to get an estimate from Yamato for all the stuff we want to take back with us. The pile of stuff measures about 1.6 x 1.5 x 1 square meters.

It's mostly clothes, books, electronics with a few larger things like my snowboard and a rack we've been using to cart around my projector.

We've been trying to whittle down all the stuff we're bringing home for obvious reasons. Having finished my contract, I can ship home ¥300,000 worth of stuff to America. Unfortunately, even though Hyunjoo is working under the same contract, we won't get an additional ¥300,000 since she's technically breaking her contract.

We made arrangements to have the stuff sent to Hyunjoo's sister's house in Las Vegas. Sending the stuff to the West coast is cheaper than the East coast so we should be able to bring more with us for the same amount of money.

I figured we'd be a little over the shipping allowance, but as it turns out, we're way under. Omi-san said it was the least amount of stuff she's seen in about the past 10 years! Hyunjoo and I were so relieved to hear that.

Back from Korea

We just returned from a quick - five day - trip to Seoul. It was really nice to see Hyunjoo's parents, and her younger sister again. Nayoung is headed to Las Vegas to study for a year beginning this fall. She seemed really excited to be going. She is also excited to spend time with her nephew, Ryan, who's already in Las Vegas.

Unfortunately I was possessed by a stomach demon who had its way with my digestive system for a couple of days. I was outta the picture for a while recovering. I'm basically back to normal, but it was a pretty nasty part of the trip.

Tsurugi Insect Museum

This place is always a great time.
Click on the sliding banner for a larger slideshow.

Kickin' it in Kanazawa

Here are some pix from Lee and Elise's stay in Kanazawa.
Click on the scrolling banner to see a larger version of the slideshow. I highly recommend it!

Hanging around Mt. Fuji after the hike

We spend a few days at an awesome hostel in after we hiked Mt. Fuji. It was a great time to relax, if even for a couple of days.
Click on the sliding banner to view a larger version of the slideshow.

Finished Fuji

Click on the pictures to view a larger version of the slideshow.

We just woke up from our post-hike nap. Yikes it's midnight and we haven't even eaten yet.

So, we went up together and we returned together and had a great experience. It was a fantastic trip and well worth the effort.

We hiked the mountain within a 24 hour period from the "regular" Kawaguchiko 5th station trail-head and back. It was mostly cloudy and misty and we barely managed to miss the most recent "Number 4" typhoon.

It was a blast. I'll update the entry later with better details.

Takin Tokyo by storm

Today is my brother's (and mother) birthday... Happy Birthday!

Lee and Elise landed in Tokyo without a hitch a couple of days ago and we've been having a great time kicking around.

Click on the sliding banner for a larger slideshow.

This morning we went to the Tsukiji Fish Market for a killer breakfast. We've never had such a fanastic morning meal (besides all the home cooked ones from mom).

We'll be heading out for a special dinner for Lee in a little while.

Tomorrow, we head off for Mt. Fuji. Keep your fingers crossed fo us. A typhoon just swept through here and the weather is still a bit cloudy. We're hoping the rains stay clear for our summit attempt.

The plan is that we'll hike tomorrow to the 8th station and then sleep for a few hours before hitting the summit early on the 18th of July.

Wish us luck!

Vader calls Palpatine

Another good video recommendation from Martin...

Hangin' with Martin

I had a chance to hang out with my old friend Martin from High School. We checked out the new Midtown complex near Roppongi.

Vermont Sledding

It's a little out of season, but a little something for those with the endless winter at heart. Brought to you from my friend Phil.

Immigration Interview

We just finished at the American Embassy.

Hyunjoo's immigration interview is finished at last and all's well so far. If things continue to go well, we'll have her passport back when we return to Kanazawa on the 20th. There should be a shiny new visa for her in the passport and we'll be that much closer to getting her permanent residency status.

I'm not exactly sure what steps we'll have to go through once we arrive in the states. More bureau-crazy I'm sure. The guy at the Embassy wasn't even sure. He slid outta that one gracefully with a "well, that a different government agency..."

We started this process back in November and over $2000 later, we're finally wrapping things up. It makes me appreciate that the Immigration Bill didn't get passed a few weeks ago. We're going through all of these steps and everyone else should have to as well.

Too bad

I was talking with an old friend last week who lives in Kyoto. He's been there for about 10 years. Some might call him an expat, though he might take offense to the label as a few others have. I'm not exactly sure why. I'm pretty neutral on the term myself. That's another story however.

We were comparing life here in Japan with back home in America and he said that he was happy enough to live here because things like the troubling side of the Immigration Bill and the lack of the American Government's effectiveness in Iraq and at home just made the idea of living in America unpleasant by comparison.

I had to bite my lip, because I would probably just say something that would just damage our pleasant, but "convenient" friendship. I think part of getting older means developing a pretty "rough lip" - at least in my case.

I don't want to step on toes here. Everyone has very different experiences and reasons for living abroad, whether temporarily or indefinitely. Nor do I mean to reduce someone's reasons for living abroad, because these situations are usually based on very complicated decisions.

I suppose I felt like he gave a poor reason to live here in Japan, but perhaps no better than the one I had for coming here in the first place. I also know that I felt defensive to his remarks as he knows that I'm headed back to America. I'm looking for an opportunity, he's only commenting on the negative media-driven image of America that's fueled by daily internet bytes and an annual two-week trip back home to oblige his family.

I realize that it's part of the "survival package" of living as an expat. And perhaps I even wore that mask myself before my decision to return to America. And perhaps that's a part of exactly why I'm returning to America now with Hyunjoo.

Goodbye

The KIT and KTC staff threw Yasuko, Hyunjoo, and I a farewell party since we'll all be leaving before the next term begins. It was a really cool gathering since both entire-staffs rarely get together.
Click on the pictures to see a larger version of the slideshow.

Live manta birth in Okinawa

My third YouTube contribution! It took me awhile to find this one...

The check list...

This is just a rough list of what we gotta remember to take care of on our way outta here.

• selling the car
• reservations for Mt. Fuji
• arrangements for Alicia's visit
• reservations for Lee folks once they leave Kanazawa
• sell / throw out everything we're not packing up
• buy tickets to Seoul
• job hunt!
• Las Vegas vs. Salt Lake City
• garbage runs
• sign out of the apartment
• wire money to America
• shut off utilities
• hike Hakusan
• clean the apartment
• luggage service to the airport
• fly outta here
  

Phone home... not!

Oh no! We've been trying to call America this morning and we're getting some kind of error message in Japanese and English from YahooBB (maybe) saying that we don't have (our) number registered to make these kinds of calls. I don't get it. They get paid from my bank account automatically every month. Wassup? Thankfully we're still able to make local calls through our landline and access the internet, but we're gonna have to get this fixed tomorrow.

Funny Bunnies

If you're looking for some giggles and would like to see some movies, very fast! Then, check out these bunnies!

Warning: Cultural Rant

The more you try to ignore something that bothers you...
It's widely known that it's perfectly polite to loudly slurp your noodles here in Japan. Yakisoba is a favorite, perhaps as common as a peanut butter sandwich in America (at least when I was growing up). They're noodles that are gently fried in a heavy sauce that is perhaps based on soy sauce. It's a strong smell and is often accentuated with pickled ginger, and other garnishes. Now, I love yakisoba when I'm in the mood for it.

Part two of this story is that about 16 teachers share an office about 30 feet by 40 feet. So there's a teacher ever 7.5 x 10 feet in this room. We live with all kinds of intrusions into personal space. It's one of the most difficult daily challenges we have to learn to live with here.

Today, I wanna scream. The slurping and heavy lingering odor of those noodles is about to make me walk over and throw those noodles out the window. I wonder what that Japanese teacher would do?

Thankfully, in the time it took for me to red-line and then script out this poorly written narrative, the offender has finished his noodles that prove to be the "gift-that-keeps-on-givin'". In another hour or so, the smell should dissipate.

Triumph and the Weather

Martin sent me this one. Watch out Hawaii!


Triumph Weather Dog - video powered by Metacafe

Governmentium

Researchers recently announced discovery of the heaviest chemical element now known to science. It was named Governmentium. It has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. The 312 particles are held together by forces of morons, which are surrounded by vast numbers of weak particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction which it contacts. A minute amount of Governmentium delayed one reaction for 4 days when it would normally take 3 milliseconds.

Governmentium has a half-life of three years, but it does not decay. Instead, it undergoes a reorganization in which a percentage of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium' s mass actually increases over time, since each reorganization also causes some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

The characteristic of moron-promotion leads scientists to speculate that Governmentium is formed whenever masses of morons concentrate around water-coolers. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.

sorry, source unknown

Man rides kite into the air

I believe this one is in the Guiness Book of World Records.

Niigata Dolphin Show

A-Bike

Looks like a great idea for keeping in the car or for around town. They're priced at around $300. I just wonder how long the tires last. There's even a folding helmet to go along!

Guy who can catch sunglasses with his face

This is one of the funniest / coolest videos I've seen this month!

Scouting trip up Hakusan

(click on slide show for additional viewing options and to download the pictures)
On my quest to hike the three sacred peaks of Japan, I made a scouting trip to number two on my list yesterday, Hakusan. I hiked Tateyama with Adam and Katya last year on a spectacular day and hope to duplicate that experience with Hakusan.

I drove out by myself to the furthest point possible, 市ノ瀬 Ichinose parking lot. I had to hike up the road to the 別当出合 Bettoudeai trailhead which took me about 75 minutes, maybe three miles. Along the way I spotted folks coming down from the mountain. Some were day hiking like myself, others were camping and some had passed me on mountain bikes with skiing gear on their backs!

The trail was pretty steep, but could be hiked with my old day-hiking shoes. I'm not so confident about a full push for the summit, but I'll make do with taping my ankles and using a hiking staff. I have a feeling that I'll also need to support my knees as well. I made it up to the 中飯場 Nakahanba waypoint about 4.5km from the summit before the snow was too thick to hike on with my gear. I hit my return-time anyhow so I headed back down, but not before the enjoying the scenery. It was fantastic and I was even blessed with a wonderful view of two amazing waterfalls not far from one of the ridges. I can't wait to return!

Uchinada Kite Festival

(click on slide show for additional viewing options and to download the pictures)
Hyunjoo, Katya, Sheryl and I took off for Uchinada around 10:30 to check out the annual kite festival along the beach near Kanazawa. We were immediately impressed with over 10 massive octopus "kites" flying low over the beach. They were brought by a team that flew out from Berkeley, California. Unfortunately only a few traditional large Japanese kites were flying. And my favorites, the bug kites, were rarely seen that day as well. After getting pumped watching the team sport kite competition, we decided to try it out for ourselves. There were instructors that let you fly a sport kite for yourself. It was a rather difficult design to fly since it wobbled a high speeds and it gave a wicked pull in those winds. We soon switched to my own sport kite and continued having fun taking turns flying it until the winds died down at three. You can find Katya's video from this link.

Shirone Kite Museum

Hyunjoo and I just returned from a short trip to Niigata city. On our way up, we stopped by a fantastic kite museum. They even have facilities for children to make their own kites and test them in an indoor wind tunnel! The vast majority of kites were hand made, even the gargantuan kites in the atrium.

Hotel Riddle

Three guys went to a hotel manager for a room. The manager said a room would be $30. They all paid $10. The bellman took their luggage up to their room, but when he came back down the manager told him that he charged $5 extra for the room and to bring the $5 back. The bellman was mad though because the guys didn't tip him so he took $2 and gave the men $3 back. So each man ended up paying $9 for the room. 3 people x $9 = $27 but $27+$2 = $29
Where did the extra dollar go?
Answer

School Dinners

Here are some pix from the last couple of school functions we've had.

Holy Crap!

This is a good one from Google. I took screen captures in case they take down their April Fool's Website.

The Dark Side of Toyama

Pictures from our last stop before Kanazawa: Kurobe.

Upcoming On Our Own Silverscreen

Updated 2 April 2007

• Motorcycle Diary
• Orgazmo
• Promises
• Ray
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Hotel Rwanda
• Mr. Hitch
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Howl's Moving Castle
• Munich
• TransAmerica
• An Inconvenient Truth
• The Prestige
• Babel
• Borat
• Typhoon
• Avalon
• Blood Diamond
• The Good Shepherd
• The Guardian
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Rocky Balboa
• Butterfly Effect 2
• Devil Wears Prada

Shaken!

We did it!
Over the last week, Hyunjoo and I have been working on updating our shaken (safety inspection for automobiles). We drove out to the auto center today and finally took the test and passed inspection!

C.C.Z. Beach

We took Jayoung out to the beach looking out to the sea between Japan and Korea. I was amazed how different it looked from when I was last there in the summer. Firstly, the sand dunes had migrated up the beach across the concrete walk-way, over the berms, and into the parking lot. They must dedicate a huge working crew to relocate the sand before the droves return in the summer. Secondly, there was litter across the entire length of the beach. I had heard some Japanese folks accuse the Koreans for being responsible for littering in the ocean. Indeed, I found my first proof of Korean litter. There was one squeeze bottle on the beach. The rest however showed signs of Japanese origin and it's no surprise. We see Japanese folks littering in town frequently. The litter goes into the gutters which wash it into large culverts that lead into major rivers. The rivers take the rest of it out to the ocean. I've seen it every step of the way in my travels. It's a sad fact.

Hyunjoo found what looked to be a rat at first glance, but soon realized that it was a dried up blowfish. Within 20 square yards we found about 15 more of its friends washed up and dried out as well. It was kind of sad to see. They have incredibly sharp barbs. I'd hate to be the predator that swallows one only to have it inflate in your mouth.

We launched the kites in the mild wind and had a quick session before heading back to town. I'm hoping the wonderful weather holds. We're dying for the spring to come.

One for Casey (Bean) from Hyunjoo

Taking our guest, Jayoung, to Higashiyama

Hyunjoo's friend, Jayoung, was just visiting for a week from Seoul. We headed for the hills, well actually the Geisha district near the Utatsuyama Hills and had a great day walking around and even went for an okonomiyaki dinner afterwards.

Working at the car wash, baby...

I was never big on automated car washes in the States. I suppose I always had the room to take care of my car where I lived. Lacking space, most people have to make do with what we have and here in Japan, almost every gas station has one of these nifty sliding car washes. You drive into place and the whole machine oscillates around you. It kinda gives you motion sickness, because you feel like you're moving when you're not. Works well enough between hand-waxings.

Killer new lid from HJ

Heheh. This one's badass, and comfy too!

The Eagles: Live

Headed to Hakusan?

Hakusan National Park (area 183sq.mi/ 473sq.km) is home to Mount Hakusan (8,865ft/ 2,702m) is one of Japan's three sacred mountains. Of the five approach routes (Iwama, Chugu, Itoshiro, Hirase and Ichinose) the most popular, for climbers coming from Kanazawa, is the Ichinose route. Near here is the Murodo Hut, which is open during the summer. The route to the five peaks of Mount Hakusan (views of the Tatayama Range to the southeast and Mount Norikura) runs up through dense forests and rich Alpine vegetation. The highest of the five peaks is Gozenmine (8,865ft/ 2,702m), followed by Tsurugigamine (8,714ft/ 2,656m) and Onanji (8,682ft/ 2,646m); to the south are Bessan and Sannomine. On Gozenmine is the Inner Shrine (Okunoin) of the Shirayamahime Shrine (Kaga-Ichinomiya) at the foot of Mount Hakusan.
- planetware.com

I've hiked one of the three sacred peaks and I'd like to do the other two before I leave Japan this summer. So, the next on the list might very well be Hakusan!

Japanese Courts/Society = Xenophobia ?

I've gotten tired reading/hearing stories suggesting a much deep, darker underlining to the Japanese.

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling and denied Japanese nationality to nine children with Filipino mothers and Japanese fathers who are not married.

The Nationality Law says that a child born out of wedlock to a non-Japanese mother is only recognized as a citizen if the Japanese father admits paternity prior to the child's birth or marries the mother before the child turns 20. In the case of the nine kids, the fathers came forward after they were born but did not wed the mothers.

Presiding Judge Hidetoshi Somiya said the law is justified and does not interfere with the children's constitutional right to equality.

Somiya also said the court does not have the authority to grant the children citizenship.

"The decision to grant nationality is an inherent right of the state," he said. (continued)

This country is facing a crisis as is with its diminishing birthrates. It would seem prudent to begin embracing a new workforce to help provide revenue for their rapidly aging population. Who's going to pay their nationalized healthcare costs in 20-30 years? Let's go folks, robots can't do everything. And getting the "baby-making machines" fired up isn't going to help much either.

Assainate your Cold!

I have no idea what this character is doing on a display of over-the-counter drugs.

Russian Street Ninja

This kid is freakin' incredible!

Some funny video (R-Rating)

This one was forwarded to us from Sheryl.



And another Hyunjoo and I found just fishing around on the internet...

Some long due pix of Ryan

Hyunjoo's older sister, Hyunjung, and her husband Scott were very happy to announce the birth of their new son, Ryan, back in January. We can't wait to meet him this summer!

Away from home

Hyunjoo threw a "Stitch and Bitch" today. She and five of her girlfriends came over today to eat and drink a lot and gab away to their heart's content. Oh yeah, they also did a little knitting.

I "made room" for them by taking off with Casey, Vhon, and Curt after I returned from the gym. Us guys went for some lunch at Jo House, hit a bunch of balls at the batting cages, then went for a few frames of bowling.

We eventually had to break up the party, but not with out a couple casualties. I'll spare the details but after reviving Chieko from unconsciousness and bringing Curt back to drive his wife home, we finally settled down for the evening. Looks like they had a great time!

Well, I hope Sunday will be as entertaining as today was.

Busy servin'

This would usually be a post in my Tech blog, but it kinda covers a range of topics...
I've been working hard on my server to expand its offerings and I now have a moodle (online learning managment system), a web-based FTP server, and a brand new bulletin board forum system. It's been a bear to get everything installed at times, but everything seems to be working. At least in beta.

Been a while...

Hideeho,
What a day to pick up on my blog. We enjoyed a three-day weekend, partly spent in Niigata. But I sure hit the ground running this morning.
First, I had to return the school's van that we were borrowing for our skiing trip. That entailed gassing her up and getting her washed down. Then I was supposed to return it to the personnel office to have it inspected. No one was in the office at 8:20, so I booked over to the garage to return it safe and sound.
Then, I had classes all morning, but was interrupted because they needed the van keys back. Doreen was nice enough to ferry the paperwork and keys back to the personnel office for me while I finished my classes.
After that, I had my "Jitterbug" hands-on class with my C4 students and that was a non-stop roller coaster ride from 10:50 until 2:00 PM.
Then, I had to prostrate myself to the folks in the personnel office for being late with the van. I also visited Yoshiko to apologize to her to, since she stepped in earlier to help out as well.
It's 3:00PM and my first break of the day.
I can finally begin to plan for tomorrow. Whew.

Strange newness from Pizza Hut

Wasn't too bad, but I don't think we'll be ordering this one again. A little too greasy and not enough "pizza".

Batter up!

Casey and I had a great time at the batting cage. We'll definitely be headed back. It's a great way to blow off some steam, even in the cooling evenings.

You'll have to look real close!

This was forwarded to me from Katya. Please send her all your comments! I'm sure you'll have some.

First... TURN ON your speakers so you can hear the "narration"...
Then click on this link!
Find the differences... look real close (to your screen)!

Hyunjoo's Petition for an Immigrant Visa

We've made the decision to move to the States and we've begun the process for her immigrant visa and eventual lawful resident card (green card). We've started to fill out the I-130 and G-325A (for the both of us).

What are the steps?
What are the forms we'll need?
How long will this take?

http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/family.htm
http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/index.htm
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivgeneral.html
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivi130checkmail.html

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?act=idx

Jason's back!

I tried to teach my students about Friday the 13th. They didn't seem to understand "bad luck". I don't think I activated their schemata very well. They just shouted "Jason"! Great. Thanks Hollywood.

Perhaps I should have started off with something like the number "42" - which is bad luck here in Japan. The number four - "shi" is also the same pronuciation for the character that means death. Oh well.

I think they liked my props anyhow.

Knitting

Hyunjoo has been busy knitting over the past year. She's recently finished a lovely scarf that even has a way to keep itself around your neck with out having to tie knots. Stupid knots.

I'm patiently waiting/hoping for a new cap this winter! Wink wink, nudge nudge...

A day in the park

Hyunjoo and I went out to a local, hillside park that's being built near a famous Zen temple not far from us.

We like to go up there on breezy days to fly kites and check out the city scape of Kanazawa.

Trying to get my Japanese driver's license

click to view videoblog

Godzilla-ville

These pictures are of a model of Kanazawa and the surrounding area. It shows the downtown region with the famous Kenrokuen park not far from the city center. These pictures also show the hilly areas of Utatsuyama north of the city. Unforunately, the students were not able to include Kanazawa Institute of Technology as that would have added another 40 feet or so to the model. It's a fantastic job that is elevation accurate through the use of foam contours.

Busy bloggin

Starting up multiple blogs made sense. I found that I needed something for my now-suspended podcast, this one about my time in Kanazawa, one for my computer and electronics trouble shooting, and yet another for my teaching. They're all distinct entities for totally different purposes, but it does get difficult juggling them at times.

Still suffering with Sudoku

Dad-folks got me interested in Sudoku a while ago, and then my friend Sheryl showed me a couple of tips in solving a few of the easier puzzles. So, I've been kinda addicted to them for a few months now, but I keep forgetting some of the more advanced techniques like the "X-Wings". This is a pretty good site for showing how to solve some of those more difficult puzzles. By the way, I'm still working on getting my average time on the "medium" puzzles down to a half hour.

Hobie

A visual update of our favorite little guy in San Diego.

The Instant Pet - almost

I brought back some SeaMonkeys for Hyujoo this summer. I had grown up reading about them in comic books when I was a kid. I even saw a South Park episode about SeaMonkeys recently.

We set up the water tank the previous day and these are shots of Hyunjoo pouring in the "secret mixture" of live instant eggs. Frankly, we didn't see anything instantly. Sure enough though, the next day, we saw six tiny white "commas" swimming around in the water. We're both pretty curious how big they'll get.

Touring around with exchange students from Singapore

We've had 12 students visiting from Singapore the last few days. They'll be here until the 19th. I was scheduled to join Juji-sensei to take them on a tour of downtown Kanazawa. It was their second trip downtown actually.

We took them to the Samurai district for a tour of a preserved estate. We arranged for a tea ceremony for the students so they could sample some of Kanazawa's green tea. Afterwards we went for lunch at the station with a shopping spree thrown in. Finally, we went to Omichou Fish Market to check out the area's most famous fish mongers.

It was really interesting to be a tourist again. I haven't seen Kanazawa through those eyes in a long time. It's strange though, I hardly feel like this is a home. It's more a solid retreat.

In the end the kids seemed like they had a great time, and I had fun with them. So it was a good day.

KTC Jr. High School Open Campus Day

This past February, I joined Phil in his workshop to make a couple of little robots. I had talked about how cool it would be to make a lesson plan based on these little critters and it looks like with the help of the engineers here at KTC I'll finally be able to do that. These pictures were taken from the very first lesson that designed on one of the bugs that Phil made for me. Furuya-sensei was so impressed with the bugs, that he redesigned them for a workshop used to recruit new students. I hope to adapt that lesson into a hands-on type English class this winter.

Fireworks along Uchinada Beach

Please click on an image to see a larger version.

Pig out!

While I was chillin' in "Bean Town" with my brother. A group of us headed over to a Dominican Republic-style birthday party for one of my brother's co-workers. She said that a D.R. birthday was all about the food, lots of drinking, and plenty of dancing. She also said that I was disrespecting by not staying to have some of this pig. I had to promise that I'd try to make one of her future birthdays, just to get back to Princeton on time.

The pig was something else. They prepared this pig for a whole day, the day before. She had to use her bathtub to wash it down and season the sucker. The firepit was started at 8:30 am and they had the pig on a "skewer" that was about an inch in diameter and featured a steering wheel for the ultimate driving control. By the way, this pig roast is an annual event. Damn!

Hikin' Mt. Hunger

Even though my stay in Vermont was so short, I was able to meet up with Adam and Katya to hike Hunger. It was a great day and we made it up in no time thanks to Katya in the lead. I really have missed the mountains of the NE.

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.

Happy Birthday Hyunjoo!

We had a really nice dinner at Chungju House (Korean) not far from our home. Hyunjoo lucked out with some really nice gifts from everyone! These are only a couple of pix I was able to snap off of some fireworks and a piece of artwork that she got as presents. Thanks to everyone for coming out to celebrate Hyunjoo's birthday with us!

Happy Birthday Cole!

Hi Cole!
Happy Birthday from Uncle Kent. I'm sorry my present was late. I hope you got it and like what I sent. I look forward to seeing you this summer! Have a great spring and keep sending me pictures!
Love, Uncle Kent

Kite Park

HJ and I went with Phil and Jessica to a new park JPN009 - Kite Park not too far from home. It being built off the new road behind our house. The park is perfect for kite flying as the hills catch winds coming off the city headed into the mountains. We flew a number of kites with various success. The big experiement was lauching his kite-camera to take pictures of the city. I attached my altimeter to the camera and found that it reached a height of 177 feet at its apex. Hopefully we'll get some good pix from the camera. We lost a bunch of exposures due to technical difficulties, but I'm confident we got at least one good shot.

Golden Week - Day 2

Another fantastic day. Two in a row and I am counting! We wasted no time getting out. Downtown, we bumped into Casey and Chieko in the Montbel store in Rifare. Then, minutes later Hyunjoo saw Ernesto and Emilene going up to the upper floors of Libro bookstore. Small town. We were all pretty hungry so we headed off to "Garlic, Garlic" for some dinner. That place puts out some good dishes. I've never had anything there I wasn't happy with.

I got my "sizing ring" in the mail today from Grannis Gallery. Unfortunately, I'll need a small size. The Japanese 18/US 9 ring is a bit too big. I think I'll have to order a JPN16 size to fit properly. I also got the sketches of the ring and I'm pretty happy with the custom design of the ring as well. It'll feature Mt. Mansfield, Camel's Hump, and Mt. Fuji set in an evening sky with a full and crescent moon.

Google'n with my Garmin

Where have I been you ask? (or may be not)... but in case your interested anyhow check out this link:
SAKURA - Picnic and Campsite
This is a local picnic ground up in the bamboo forest. We've gathered here a few times during good weather and I took these coordinates a couple of days ago when I went up there with Casey, Chieko, and Hyunjoo for some frisbee throwing.

I've combined Google's neat online mapping function with my basic GPS from Garmin to create a database of places around the world where I've been. Click on this link to check out more locations.

Spring finally feels like it's here

It's been too cold and rainy until recently to call the beginning of spring. This weekend broke that unfortunate streak and we celebrated. I went to Kanazawa Castle on Saturday to throw the frisbee around with Casey and Chieko. On Sunday, Casey and I biked about 12 km to the waterfront surrounding the terminus of the Sai River. With a bit of climbing we were able to make our way out on the massive concrete pier to check out the old breakwater. We even saw someone catch a "fugu" or blowfish.

Sakura by the river

This was just about the last sakura we could find in our neighborhood. Even though the season was later than expected, it was as spectacular as always.