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.

Portable Boating

Alpacka Raft

Alpacka rafts are built tough with fabrics designed especially for us to meet adventure travelers’ extreme demands. All seams are butt welded for strength and durability. And they are designed and tested to survive all sorts of use and abuse. Inexpensiive pool-toy boats work fine for quiet lakes and ponds but as soon as you hit the river you need an Alpacka. Alpacka rafts stand up to season after season of adventure. And Alpacka users don’t worry about running out of patches before they run out of river.

Feathercraft

The wonder of a Feathercraft is not just that it folds into a backpack. It also lets you experience the nuances of the water surrounding you. The skin on frame kayak responds actively to the changing sea conditions. From the gentle undulation of a calm day to a storm’s fury, your Feathercraft kayak offers a sense of security, of being taken care of. Wave energy is absorbed, and the skin kayak flows through surges and swells, protecting you. You experience the fluid environment that surrounds you. You are not separate from the water, but joined.

Hanami 2006

The cherry blossoms have just begun here in Ishikawa. Looks like they'll be peaking sometime before next weekend.

Click on album to see a bigger version.

Welcome Casey and Chieko!

Casey and Chieko just moved from Tokyo. After a few shopping sprees, they bought a bunch of stuff for their apartment not too far from our place.

Click the "play" button to start the narrated slideshow!

Tokyo during the Spring break

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Rockin' little robots!

These little robots were made by Phil (and I helped him with a couple of the models). They are custom-made from parts found at a local electronics store and run on button batteries. Very cool!

Click the "play" button to start the narrated slideshow!

Earthquake Survival

Here's an interesting article that someone sent me about getting through an earthquake. I found it interesting since I'm living here in the land of quakes.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the" triangle of life". The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured.

The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the "triangles" you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building. They are everywhere. I trained the Fire Department of Trujillo (population 750,000) in how to survive, take care of their families, and to rescue others in earthquakes.

Pain in the Bun!

You'd probably be surprised. It's hard to make a hamburger here in Japan. Buns for hamburgers are very rare in these parts and if you find them, they're often mixed in with other types of buns or have weird things in them. We got lucky!

Demolition

The Japanese move fast to tear stuff down around here.

Preparing wedding invitations

Casey and Chieko in Town

Casey and Chieko stayed the night this weekend to check out some apartments. The found one only about 15 minutes walk from where we live. I believe they'll be moving in next month!

Snowshoeing

I took off to the mountains today. Got cabin fever big time. So, I went up to the bamboo forest - about a 20 minute walk from my apartment.

Flying Pig to the rescue!

Here's a million dollar idea that I missed out on... taking Costco online for foreigners around Japan. These guys were thinking. You place an order through an ingeniously designed site that has you buying to fill up boxes to keep you shipping costs down. Then they go to Costco's and buy your stuff then ship it to your doorstep. It's not cheap, they don't have a huge selection of stuff, but they do offer a great service and it is a great convenience. Where else can you get 3 KG of spicy cheese sauce for your nachos?

Yakitori

Got lazy lastnight and decided it was time to go out for some yakitori!

2005 Darwin Awards

When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.....

And now, the honorable mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and, after a little shopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer...$15. (If someone points a gun at you and! gives you money, is a crime committed?)

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 a.m., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.

******A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER*****

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

Happy New Year!

I got to celebrate New Year's Day in a typical Korean fashion. The Lee's celebrate New Year's on January 1st, along with about half of Seoul's residents, from what I could make out. Many folks still observe the Chinese calendar for the New Year.

Our day began with a formal ceremony in front of Hyun-joo's parents. Then we played a game called "Yut-nori" followed by "Go-Stop". There were meals through out the day. In fact I had to sit out the last meal because I just couldn't think of eating any more.



The formal ceremony required the children (and their significant others) to bow before their parents and wish them a Happy New Year, "Sehe-bok-mani-ba-duseyo". It took me about 20 practice run-thru's to get that line straight. Even then I could only say it like a four-year old when the time came. BUT I did it. Hyun-joo's father then said some blessings and gave each of us some money for the New Year!




The game "Yut-nori" was played with four sticks that were thrown to determine how many places game pieces could be moved on a circular game board. You could either move one, two, three, four, five, or back one space depending how the sticks fell. If one of the sticks fell out of the playing area (a towel on the floor), then you lost your turn - a very disgraceful outcome I came to learn. We played in three teams of two with two game pieces each. There was big money to be won - each game profited the winners with 30,000 won, about $30. An interesting thing about this game is that it is only played on New Year's Day.


"Go-stop" was equally profitable to the winners in much smaller increments. This game uses cards that are very similar to Japanese Hana-fuda, but played with different rules. I won't explain them, but it was complicated enough that I needed to rely on Hyun-joo for our winnings.



The rest of the day was spent hanging out with family, much like an American Christmas day with feasting that reminded me of Thanksgiving back home.