Hiya,
As mentioned last week, had problems uploading photos. Just spent far too much time trying to rectify that problem and have not been able to figure it out. I have so many local election pix and comments to share that it's killing me.
Next week, we are heading out of town (Malaysia) for Thanksgiving and will definitely not post.
Come back in December to see if this thing works itself out.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Week of November 14th, 2014
Hey there.
Bunch of random thoughts this week, and I'll try to stay off of my political soapbox.
Some real progress is being made by the local government and I feel partially responsible. First, a new law is now on the books and being enforced regarding bicycles. All bikes are now required to sport front and back lights...not just reflectors. Still no requirement that riders wear helmets, but it's progress. What still seems incredibly stupid is that that the scooter riders, who are required to wear helmets, are still allowed to have their children passengers ride without them. I don't know, but would have to think that the law is for helmets to be worn by all passengers, but the sheer number of kids, and I'm talking toddlers, out there without them means that this law is not being enforced. Do these parents and police have any sense of shame?
The big news is that they have taken up my suggestion to start using their precious traffic cams to start ticketing buttholes that run red lights. Going through intersections 2, 3, sometimes 5 seconds after the light turned red was epidemic. I had been noticing that cars were inexplicably stopping when the light turned red recently when someone told me they started giving tickets for this infraction. Savvy scofflaws (most notably the taxis) are figuring out where these ticketing cameras are and will still blow through those, but again...progress. And you're welcome.
A friend related a story about these cameras that I found both positive and disconcerting. She told me that a few days ago, she lost one of her favorite and expensive earrings, and determined that it must have fallen off in a cab ride home. All the cabs look alike and she had no idea the number. She went to her local cop shop and they accessed the network of these cams. Estimating the time she got home, they pulled up one from her street and saw her getting out of the cab, but the angle was not good enough to discern the license plate. As they backtracked her route over the course of three hours and a dozen or so feeds from her 2 mile journey, they ultimately found the right one and the company ended up having it in their lost and found. Amazing that they would devote that much time to this effort, and happy for her reuniting with her favorite piece of jewelry, but a bit disconcerting that a person is constantly being filmed. Does help explain the low levels of street crime.
Was asked the other day if I could help out with a local orphanage from time to time and got into discussing the demographics of the kids at it. I was surprised there were so many orphans here as they feel like a society that is Western in their low birth rate and wouldn't have a glut of unwanted kids. A quick check of world birth rates proved that assumption, with Taiwan ranking just ahead of Japan with the fifth lowest rate in the world. Naively, I did not consider that the children would be non-Taiwanese. Legal foreign nationals (like us) totaled 640,000 in 2012 (2.7% of the total island population of 23 million), with the three primary origins of those being Indonesian (41%), Vietnamese (23%) and Filipino (19%). Found it interesting that just six years earlier, the largest foreign population was Thai at 27%.. The orphanage lady said that all of her children were not Chinese, but were exclusively from these other populations. Most of them were children on non-legal foreign nationals that were caught and returned to their home countries. It was not clear whether they were left here by parent choice or that the parents were deported without being able to take their children. I said that I found it strange that with the demand for adoption in many countries, that they are not able to find homes for some of these kids, but was told that they are unable to be adopted due to their illegal status and that their only current prospect is to remain in these orphanages until they are old enough to be deported. My heart sunk for them...I will be reaching out to see what I can do to help and hopefully elaborate more positive news, but simply a tragic tale.
Local government elections, or as the locals call them, erections, are coming up
in a couple of weeks, and campaign signs are omnipresent around town. Have a collage of hilarious ones to share, but this site is not allowing photo uploads today, so will have to wait till next time. Stay tuned for my election, pardon me, erection night coverage.
As for last weeks US midterms, I have watched every election closely since 1976 and some confound more than others. Have ranted and raved my reaction to them out of my system and won't bore you with any of that today, but I will direct you to this
analysis that gave me hope. If you have 3 minutes, would love for you to read it and tell me if you find any flaws in his rationale.
Finally, have you ever met this guy? Was at the November Beefsteak and Burgundy lunch and we had a couple of prospective new members come as guests. One of them (let's call him Henry as that was his name), another member and I were talking during the welcome wine and canapé portion of the lunch. We were describing the club and some of the stuff that goes on and we say that before we sit down for lunch, we make a toast to the Queen (it is an Australian club in origin), and Henry, who has been nearly mute for the entire conversation says, "Good, just as long as we don't have to toast that scumbag Obama." By using such a polarizing statement as your opening salvo, it tells me all I need to know about you. I was not proven wrong that my immediate assessment of him as being a shallow moron as I got to listen to him in action over the next couple of hours. Look, nuance might not be my forte in a lot of things, but regarding politics, a complete lack of it is dangerous and counterproductive.
Bunch of random thoughts this week, and I'll try to stay off of my political soapbox.
Some real progress is being made by the local government and I feel partially responsible. First, a new law is now on the books and being enforced regarding bicycles. All bikes are now required to sport front and back lights...not just reflectors. Still no requirement that riders wear helmets, but it's progress. What still seems incredibly stupid is that that the scooter riders, who are required to wear helmets, are still allowed to have their children passengers ride without them. I don't know, but would have to think that the law is for helmets to be worn by all passengers, but the sheer number of kids, and I'm talking toddlers, out there without them means that this law is not being enforced. Do these parents and police have any sense of shame?
The big news is that they have taken up my suggestion to start using their precious traffic cams to start ticketing buttholes that run red lights. Going through intersections 2, 3, sometimes 5 seconds after the light turned red was epidemic. I had been noticing that cars were inexplicably stopping when the light turned red recently when someone told me they started giving tickets for this infraction. Savvy scofflaws (most notably the taxis) are figuring out where these ticketing cameras are and will still blow through those, but again...progress. And you're welcome.
A friend related a story about these cameras that I found both positive and disconcerting. She told me that a few days ago, she lost one of her favorite and expensive earrings, and determined that it must have fallen off in a cab ride home. All the cabs look alike and she had no idea the number. She went to her local cop shop and they accessed the network of these cams. Estimating the time she got home, they pulled up one from her street and saw her getting out of the cab, but the angle was not good enough to discern the license plate. As they backtracked her route over the course of three hours and a dozen or so feeds from her 2 mile journey, they ultimately found the right one and the company ended up having it in their lost and found. Amazing that they would devote that much time to this effort, and happy for her reuniting with her favorite piece of jewelry, but a bit disconcerting that a person is constantly being filmed. Does help explain the low levels of street crime.
Was asked the other day if I could help out with a local orphanage from time to time and got into discussing the demographics of the kids at it. I was surprised there were so many orphans here as they feel like a society that is Western in their low birth rate and wouldn't have a glut of unwanted kids. A quick check of world birth rates proved that assumption, with Taiwan ranking just ahead of Japan with the fifth lowest rate in the world. Naively, I did not consider that the children would be non-Taiwanese. Legal foreign nationals (like us) totaled 640,000 in 2012 (2.7% of the total island population of 23 million), with the three primary origins of those being Indonesian (41%), Vietnamese (23%) and Filipino (19%). Found it interesting that just six years earlier, the largest foreign population was Thai at 27%.. The orphanage lady said that all of her children were not Chinese, but were exclusively from these other populations. Most of them were children on non-legal foreign nationals that were caught and returned to their home countries. It was not clear whether they were left here by parent choice or that the parents were deported without being able to take their children. I said that I found it strange that with the demand for adoption in many countries, that they are not able to find homes for some of these kids, but was told that they are unable to be adopted due to their illegal status and that their only current prospect is to remain in these orphanages until they are old enough to be deported. My heart sunk for them...I will be reaching out to see what I can do to help and hopefully elaborate more positive news, but simply a tragic tale.
Local government elections, or as the locals call them, erections, are coming up
in a couple of weeks, and campaign signs are omnipresent around town. Have a collage of hilarious ones to share, but this site is not allowing photo uploads today, so will have to wait till next time. Stay tuned for my election, pardon me, erection night coverage.
As for last weeks US midterms, I have watched every election closely since 1976 and some confound more than others. Have ranted and raved my reaction to them out of my system and won't bore you with any of that today, but I will direct you to this
analysis that gave me hope. If you have 3 minutes, would love for you to read it and tell me if you find any flaws in his rationale.
Finally, have you ever met this guy? Was at the November Beefsteak and Burgundy lunch and we had a couple of prospective new members come as guests. One of them (let's call him Henry as that was his name), another member and I were talking during the welcome wine and canapé portion of the lunch. We were describing the club and some of the stuff that goes on and we say that before we sit down for lunch, we make a toast to the Queen (it is an Australian club in origin), and Henry, who has been nearly mute for the entire conversation says, "Good, just as long as we don't have to toast that scumbag Obama." By using such a polarizing statement as your opening salvo, it tells me all I need to know about you. I was not proven wrong that my immediate assessment of him as being a shallow moron as I got to listen to him in action over the next couple of hours. Look, nuance might not be my forte in a lot of things, but regarding politics, a complete lack of it is dangerous and counterproductive.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Week of November 7th, 2014
Hey there. Feel it fair to comment on how awesome the weather has been lately.
That is just beautiful. Nice and warm during the day, a little rain here and there, and cool, but not cold at night. I do a lot of bitching with the heat, and deservedly so, but knowing we get this nice stretch helps get through some very miserable days. And 101 can start creating its own weather.
Three tips from the 'Do Yourself a Favor" file for you this week. First, go buy a digital photo frame. I love old pictures and having a bunch of them around in frames is awesome, however, with the near absence of any real prints these days, with everything on your phone or computer, having one of these scrolling through your life is indispensible. Mine has about 400 shots spanning the digital age and as I'm walking by it, a shot or two of some person, place or thing gets my attention and brings back a happy memory. And not only are they really cheap, but it is easy to mix in new ones.
Next up, if you do even a little bit of cooking, look into a Chinese knife. I've been teaching myself to cook the last couple of years and regret never watching mom and learning from her. Need to make a concerted effort in the next year or so to teach the kids some basics as you can read a recipe, but navigating the kitchen properly is not intuitive. In an effort to learn more, I take a cooking class when I can find them, but what I really need is a basics of kitchen class. The local Community Center offered a "How to use a knife" class last week and I learned a ton. Most importantly, I was holding the damn thing wrong and thank my guardian angel for allowing me to keep all parts of my 10 fingers. In addition to helpful tips on how to chop all variety of meat and vegetables, was introduced to the Chinese knife.
It looks like a cleaver but is more delicate and is used just like a chef's knife. While it cuts delicate veggies just the same, its lager surface area helps with fine chopping as you can feel it along your fingers better and longer when bringing it up so you don't bring it back down and slice a piece off. And once your stuff is chopped up, you can scoop a lot more up with it to transfer into the pan or bowl. It also makes it easier to smash garlic or press it into a paste, and you can use the butt end close to the handle to scoop out seeds from chili or bell peppers. Maybe you all know about these things, but it was the first time I'd ever seen one and don't envision ever using a regular chef's knife again.
For the third tip this week, have been sprinkling in a term into my rotation that seems to have a readily apparent positive response to the person I'm talking to. That term is "I love that about you". Pretty easy to work it in...if someone does something nice for you or just society in general, throw it out there. Don't use it too much, and only once in a long time with each person, but when you do, watch the person's face light up...happens every time. It's magic.
Something that has been on my mind lately has been space. Not the Final Frontier kind (although Rosetta and New Horizons and everything that mankind does outside of our plant is supremely cool and completely fascinates...and am lining up early to check out Interstellar ), but what we do with our personal space and how being aware of it is one of the three pillars of being a decent human and ultimately will determine if we survive as a species. When you are out in the world this next week, think about how you are using your space and watch how others use of theirs affects everything around them. How about the morons that need to swing left before making a right turn, like they are driving some unwieldy big rig. One of my least favorite people is the one that sees that you are looking like you are going to be in a tie to hit the same spot, so they speed up to get in front of you then proceed to slow down or stop. This happened to me at the airport a couple weeks ago, when the family with too many suitcases rushed in the doors and froze in front of the departure information board...their look of wonder at the changing screen reminded me of Dorothy when she stepped from B&W Kansas into the Technicolor of Oz.
I do it subconsciously but sometimes realize that I am navigating life as if I were a speedboat. I will go as fast as possible when in open water, but when cruising into harbor, will go at a speed to create as little wake as possible.
What got me onto this train of thought was the Catcalling video that went viral a couple weeks ago but is still being discussed a couple weeks later (unusual in our 24 hour news cycle). This one seemed like a no brainer...a call out against misogyny in hopes of raising awareness that this shit is unwanted by many at best, and can be life shattering if taken to its ugly extreme. What has nearly made my head explode is the backlash against it from everywhere. From the usual troglodyte dude talking heads on Fox (and their bubble headed bleach blonde co-anchors), to people I know (and used to respect) on social media. More women than not said that she was a bee-atch and that they like getting catcalled. That it makes them feel good about their appearance. Shallow? Do those women realize that some men would catcall just about any woman? One even said that this is how some people find their partners. I'd wait the full year before I buy that wedding present. A couple of international types argue that what women in the US experience is nothing like what they get in other countries. We want to compare ourselves to them? Sure, while I contemplate how great the roads would be without women driving, a la Saudi Arabia, realize that probably isn't cool.
A statistic that I see a lot is that 1 in 3 women will be sexually abused or assaulted during their lifetime. That feels a bit high to me, but even if you say consertaively that it is 1 in 10, that is a horrificly high number. A lot of the reaction is that saying simply benign comments like "hello beautiful" are non-threatening, but the fact that some women do should be enough to stop it. How do you know that the person being catcalled isn't having a horrifically bad day or experienced some terrible episode in their past. And if was just the "you look pretty" stuff, you might be able to persuade me that I'm overreacting. Watch the video and see the parts where the dude is following alongside the girl for 5 minutes. One friend said to me this video is worthless because it was edited that way, and I asked him if he believes that that kind of thing doesn't take place. Got the 'yeah, but still' reply back. That guy in the video should be locked up. When I think about the women in my life having to deal with that complete lack of respect and fear for them when they walk alone, and that so many people think that is OK and that women are looking for it (especially from horribly insecure women that are), it makes me shake in anger. Tell me a woman you love that you don't worry about when she is out walking alone, especially at night. Actually, if you can do that, please don't tell me and would prefer that you don't enter my space at all.
I though I was supposed to be less of a bleeding heart as I got older, but find I am becoming more of one.
Finally, have been seeing a few 20 year retrospectives on the OJ trial. Seems incredible that he got off. He was sooooo guilty. And thank karma that he is in prison and hope he is suffering.
Next up, if you do even a little bit of cooking, look into a Chinese knife. I've been teaching myself to cook the last couple of years and regret never watching mom and learning from her. Need to make a concerted effort in the next year or so to teach the kids some basics as you can read a recipe, but navigating the kitchen properly is not intuitive. In an effort to learn more, I take a cooking class when I can find them, but what I really need is a basics of kitchen class. The local Community Center offered a "How to use a knife" class last week and I learned a ton. Most importantly, I was holding the damn thing wrong and thank my guardian angel for allowing me to keep all parts of my 10 fingers. In addition to helpful tips on how to chop all variety of meat and vegetables, was introduced to the Chinese knife.
For the third tip this week, have been sprinkling in a term into my rotation that seems to have a readily apparent positive response to the person I'm talking to. That term is "I love that about you". Pretty easy to work it in...if someone does something nice for you or just society in general, throw it out there. Don't use it too much, and only once in a long time with each person, but when you do, watch the person's face light up...happens every time. It's magic.
Something that has been on my mind lately has been space. Not the Final Frontier kind (although Rosetta and New Horizons and everything that mankind does outside of our plant is supremely cool and completely fascinates...and am lining up early to check out Interstellar ), but what we do with our personal space and how being aware of it is one of the three pillars of being a decent human and ultimately will determine if we survive as a species. When you are out in the world this next week, think about how you are using your space and watch how others use of theirs affects everything around them. How about the morons that need to swing left before making a right turn, like they are driving some unwieldy big rig. One of my least favorite people is the one that sees that you are looking like you are going to be in a tie to hit the same spot, so they speed up to get in front of you then proceed to slow down or stop. This happened to me at the airport a couple weeks ago, when the family with too many suitcases rushed in the doors and froze in front of the departure information board...their look of wonder at the changing screen reminded me of Dorothy when she stepped from B&W Kansas into the Technicolor of Oz.
I do it subconsciously but sometimes realize that I am navigating life as if I were a speedboat. I will go as fast as possible when in open water, but when cruising into harbor, will go at a speed to create as little wake as possible.
What got me onto this train of thought was the Catcalling video that went viral a couple weeks ago but is still being discussed a couple weeks later (unusual in our 24 hour news cycle). This one seemed like a no brainer...a call out against misogyny in hopes of raising awareness that this shit is unwanted by many at best, and can be life shattering if taken to its ugly extreme. What has nearly made my head explode is the backlash against it from everywhere. From the usual troglodyte dude talking heads on Fox (and their bubble headed bleach blonde co-anchors), to people I know (and used to respect) on social media. More women than not said that she was a bee-atch and that they like getting catcalled. That it makes them feel good about their appearance. Shallow? Do those women realize that some men would catcall just about any woman? One even said that this is how some people find their partners. I'd wait the full year before I buy that wedding present. A couple of international types argue that what women in the US experience is nothing like what they get in other countries. We want to compare ourselves to them? Sure, while I contemplate how great the roads would be without women driving, a la Saudi Arabia, realize that probably isn't cool.
A statistic that I see a lot is that 1 in 3 women will be sexually abused or assaulted during their lifetime. That feels a bit high to me, but even if you say consertaively that it is 1 in 10, that is a horrificly high number. A lot of the reaction is that saying simply benign comments like "hello beautiful" are non-threatening, but the fact that some women do should be enough to stop it. How do you know that the person being catcalled isn't having a horrifically bad day or experienced some terrible episode in their past. And if was just the "you look pretty" stuff, you might be able to persuade me that I'm overreacting. Watch the video and see the parts where the dude is following alongside the girl for 5 minutes. One friend said to me this video is worthless because it was edited that way, and I asked him if he believes that that kind of thing doesn't take place. Got the 'yeah, but still' reply back. That guy in the video should be locked up. When I think about the women in my life having to deal with that complete lack of respect and fear for them when they walk alone, and that so many people think that is OK and that women are looking for it (especially from horribly insecure women that are), it makes me shake in anger. Tell me a woman you love that you don't worry about when she is out walking alone, especially at night. Actually, if you can do that, please don't tell me and would prefer that you don't enter my space at all.
I though I was supposed to be less of a bleeding heart as I got older, but find I am becoming more of one.
Finally, have been seeing a few 20 year retrospectives on the OJ trial. Seems incredible that he got off. He was sooooo guilty. And thank karma that he is in prison and hope he is suffering.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Week of October 31st, 2014
Hey...didn't get my act together for a proper post this week. Until next Friday, here is a photo of yours truly on October 31st. The day before Movembeard begins.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Week of October 24th, 2014
Friday was the schools annual International Food Fair. My job this year was mostly in the weeks leading up to it and during set-up in the morning, so had time for my second favorite fair activity...getting pictures with mascots..
On Thursday, a good friend told me his mom died, and another friend lost a dear neighbor that was just like family the same day, so felt the need to reach out to my mom. She is good, but ended up being quite jealous by the end of the call. Her place organizes a ton of events...pizza party to watch the Giant WS game, mah jong classes, etc., and this week she tells me that she signed up through her place for a lecture series at the university across the street. On the line-up are Walter Issacson (biographer of Steve Jobs), former Defense Secretary under Bush/Obama Robert Gates, media personalities Soledad O'Brian and Anderson Cooper, and that last night she saw the great Bill Nye. I miss seeing her a lot, but love that she is having such rich experiences and is in good health.
The food fair took up a lot of time this week and didn't have an opportunity to write here, so will just finish off sharing Japan photos. This week...Tokyo. I've mentioned how awesome the subway was and that for a city of some 25 million, the place doesn't feel packed and things move great. Amazing what a well behaved populace can do. I shouldn't have been, but was a bit disappointed in the looks of the buildings. Obviously, there wasn't anything older than 1945 as the place was leveled, so there wasn't that historical feeling you get from most major cities. That said, tons of cool neighborhoods and could tell it would be a great place to live.
This area was near our hotel and it is about 8 (very small) square blocks of these tiny bars. Each one was about 6-8 seats and the specialty is mizuwari, which is whisky with one perfectly spherical ice cube. Genius.
As a huge baseball fan, had to arrange for a game. We had two choices...catch the Giants at the Tokyo Dome or Swallows outside at Jingu Stadium. Since it was rainy season, thought that if I had to buy tix in advance, there would be no rainouts inside the Dome. Massive...75,000 capacity and understand they sellout every game, so was glad we got out tickets early
The next night was the outside game and it was dry. Betty's old boss and a co-worker happened to be in town that night and they were up for it, so we decided to take in the game. Stadium looked like it was from the 60's and was the size of a AAA stadium.
And of course, never miss a mascot picture.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Week of October 18th, 2014
Hey there...the last couple of weeks, have been thinking a lot about baseball. These playoffs have been as good as any I can remember and have been engrossed daily. In preparation for the playoffs, re-watched a couple of episodes of the Ken Burns documentary 'Baseball'. His style is very soothing and I passed out a few times when watching them originally, so wanted to see a couple I had missed. In the doc, the men and women that profess their love of it, like George Will, Doris Goodwin Kearns and Bob Costas, paint such beautiful and romantic pictures that almost make you want to cry.
I love both the NFL and MLB...probably pay attention to them more than a person should. George Carlin compared them much funnier than I ever could in his classic baseball vs football bit (if you've never seen it or haven't for a while, it is worth checking out as it is as true today as it was 40 years ago), but will share my comparative thoughts on them that I've had the last few days. Watching football is similar to watching a great weekly show...like Breaking Bad or the Sopranos. You look forward to it every week and while it is usually sublime, you'll get the occasional slow episode, one that is there to move the story line along. Equally violent and beautiful, with bizarre twists and turns and paced perfectly. The natural analogy for baseball would seem to be that it's like a daily soap opera, but is more than that. Baseball is an everyday thing. Most of the time, it is simple routine and can be kind of boring. But some of the time, the drama builds and events unfold in unexpected and wonderful or sometime heartbreaking ways. When those moments occur, there is nothing like it...the euphoria or sadness affects the mind and soul forever. You get older and your physical skills erode but you get by more on your wits and experience,. Then your career is over, but your stats live on forever. Baseball is life. I truly feel bad for anyone that says baseball is boring or they don't get it cause they are missing out on the true meaning of life.
I read a study the other day that said that kids are done with Facebook, mainly because their parents are on it and that it's uncool. I suppose, but also know from experience that kids are typically dumb asses and what they think is cool is typically the opposite and it's simply just being rebellious. I like it for a lot of reasons cause I get to see what's up with friends or with things (bands, restaurants, organizations) that I follow, I think my favorite part is when someone posts a photo, I get to create my own caption. Usually it's something snarky or crass and I don't actually post it out of fear they will be offended, but the process is fun. If you read this and we are friends on FB, let me know if it's OK to comment without editing and promise that you won't get mad.
I think I mentioned it was the Mid-Autumn Festival a couple of weeks back, and much like Labor Day, it marks the time it is the time of year when the seasons change. There is the old adage that you are not to wear white after Labor Day, and while I have not heard this from anyone, the locals seem to have a similar tradition. Ever since the Festival, many of the local food cart proprietors have changed from their faded white (Benjamin & Moore call it Taiwan white) wife beater tank tops for black ones.
Hard to see in this thumbnail, but the dude on the bottom has the twenty 6 inch strands of hair growing out of the mole on his neck. Freaking gross. I would have gone in for a close-up, but he started yelling something at me in Chinese, so beat a hasty retreat.
I was invited to join the local chapter of the Beefsteak and Burgundy club the other day. I went as a guest a couple months back and thought it was simply a bunch of guys getting together to get away from their families once a month and get loaded. It is that, but this is a real thing and they take their outings seriously. Starting in Adelaide, Australia in the 1950's, there are some 300 chapters of the club in many countries of the world, but inexplicably, none in the States. In addition to your normal club officers, you have a Food Master, who researches a restaurant and helps create a menu, and the Wine Master, who pairs wines to go with the multi-course meal. The ones I've been to so far have been exquisitely presented, had great meals and went away pleasantly buzzed. There are fines for things you'd expect, like being late, cell phone usage, and "fun fines" that are issued by the secret policeman at the meal. One guy got fined 200NT for saying that one of the canapés looked like his grandmother's nipple. Looking forward to the next one and would really like to join in on a similar group when we get back to Seattle. Check out the Beefsteak and Burgundy Club's website here and get it going fellas.
Carolyn stumbled on a math test recently and we were talking about it with some of her friends. They asked if she received an Asian Fail. Am embarrassed at never having heard that term before, but an Asian Fail is a B. After explaining what it was, they all launched into quotations from this video. Funny cause it's true.
Continuing with the Japan travelogue, this week's installment is Hiroshima. We got up early and took the bullet train two hours south from Kyoto to spend the day in and around Hiroshima. Got off the bullet train and took a local city train around the town to the ferry to Miyajima.
The travel guides said the Floating Temple here is in the top 3 sites in Japan. At low tide, it is all exposed, but at high tide, it seems like it is floating.
Deer were everywhere and were pretty damn cute.
While the girls were on the boat, Paul and I strolled around taking pictures of the wildlife.
Double your pleasure, double your fun Japanese style.
The real draw of Hiroshima for me was seeing ground zero. Very impactful. The grounds were all immaculate and well laid out. Very peaceful and reverential experience.
The adjoining museum, which was also very well done, was very even handed in its description of events. They explained the reasons why the US dropped the bomb fairly while showing the impact on the people in an emotional way. There is a wall that has a metal plaque of the letters the mayor of Hiroshima sends to every head of state when a nuclear weapon is tested. And there are a lot of them. This one is to Kim Jong-un, but the last 4 were sent to Barak Obama.
After the museum, we had a couple of hours until our train was to leave back to Kyoto. I gave the kids a choice...we could go to the ancient Imperial Palace, or to the Costco we saw next to the train station. In a 4 - 1 vote (Betty being the lone dissenter), Costco it was.
I don't blame any of us...after three days in the temple capital of the world, I had seen enough. The Costco looked the same as any you'd see in the states or here. It is right next to the Hiroshima Carp's baseball stadium (Go Go Mazda Stadium), and Betty says that sales of their hot dogs on game days blows any other locations day sales out of the water. Visiting it kinda pissed me off as their selection of foodstuffs was so much better than the Taiwan stores. They had everything I am missing here, most of all, they carry a wide selection of interesting sausages. The local Costco's sell only the local sausage product, which is that horrible sweet stuff. The only "savory" kind they have are Johnsonville Brats, which is a small step up from Oscar Mayer. In Japan, they had the sundried tomato, spicy Italian, habanero and more. Damn Chinese.
I love both the NFL and MLB...probably pay attention to them more than a person should. George Carlin compared them much funnier than I ever could in his classic baseball vs football bit (if you've never seen it or haven't for a while, it is worth checking out as it is as true today as it was 40 years ago), but will share my comparative thoughts on them that I've had the last few days. Watching football is similar to watching a great weekly show...like Breaking Bad or the Sopranos. You look forward to it every week and while it is usually sublime, you'll get the occasional slow episode, one that is there to move the story line along. Equally violent and beautiful, with bizarre twists and turns and paced perfectly. The natural analogy for baseball would seem to be that it's like a daily soap opera, but is more than that. Baseball is an everyday thing. Most of the time, it is simple routine and can be kind of boring. But some of the time, the drama builds and events unfold in unexpected and wonderful or sometime heartbreaking ways. When those moments occur, there is nothing like it...the euphoria or sadness affects the mind and soul forever. You get older and your physical skills erode but you get by more on your wits and experience,. Then your career is over, but your stats live on forever. Baseball is life. I truly feel bad for anyone that says baseball is boring or they don't get it cause they are missing out on the true meaning of life.
I read a study the other day that said that kids are done with Facebook, mainly because their parents are on it and that it's uncool. I suppose, but also know from experience that kids are typically dumb asses and what they think is cool is typically the opposite and it's simply just being rebellious. I like it for a lot of reasons cause I get to see what's up with friends or with things (bands, restaurants, organizations) that I follow, I think my favorite part is when someone posts a photo, I get to create my own caption. Usually it's something snarky or crass and I don't actually post it out of fear they will be offended, but the process is fun. If you read this and we are friends on FB, let me know if it's OK to comment without editing and promise that you won't get mad.
I think I mentioned it was the Mid-Autumn Festival a couple of weeks back, and much like Labor Day, it marks the time it is the time of year when the seasons change. There is the old adage that you are not to wear white after Labor Day, and while I have not heard this from anyone, the locals seem to have a similar tradition. Ever since the Festival, many of the local food cart proprietors have changed from their faded white (Benjamin & Moore call it Taiwan white) wife beater tank tops for black ones.
I was invited to join the local chapter of the Beefsteak and Burgundy club the other day. I went as a guest a couple months back and thought it was simply a bunch of guys getting together to get away from their families once a month and get loaded. It is that, but this is a real thing and they take their outings seriously. Starting in Adelaide, Australia in the 1950's, there are some 300 chapters of the club in many countries of the world, but inexplicably, none in the States. In addition to your normal club officers, you have a Food Master, who researches a restaurant and helps create a menu, and the Wine Master, who pairs wines to go with the multi-course meal. The ones I've been to so far have been exquisitely presented, had great meals and went away pleasantly buzzed. There are fines for things you'd expect, like being late, cell phone usage, and "fun fines" that are issued by the secret policeman at the meal. One guy got fined 200NT for saying that one of the canapés looked like his grandmother's nipple. Looking forward to the next one and would really like to join in on a similar group when we get back to Seattle. Check out the Beefsteak and Burgundy Club's website here and get it going fellas.
Carolyn stumbled on a math test recently and we were talking about it with some of her friends. They asked if she received an Asian Fail. Am embarrassed at never having heard that term before, but an Asian Fail is a B. After explaining what it was, they all launched into quotations from this video. Funny cause it's true.
Continuing with the Japan travelogue, this week's installment is Hiroshima. We got up early and took the bullet train two hours south from Kyoto to spend the day in and around Hiroshima. Got off the bullet train and took a local city train around the town to the ferry to Miyajima.
Girls took a boat to ride through the Temple Gate
One of my earliest memories in life is going to the LA Zoo with some class. In the petting zoo, a goat thought my big name tag looked delicious and not only started eating it, but got a hold of the safety pin being used to keep it on my shirt. This then pulled out a huge hole in my shirt. The deer of Miyajima had a similar diet.
Double your pleasure, double your fun Japanese style.
Not sure why, but the fact that the Miyajima Public Aquarium is the only aquarium with the Soto Inland Sea as its theme made us laugh.
The trains and streetcars in Hiroshima are all repurposed from other rail systems from around the world...makes for a great feel.
The real draw of Hiroshima for me was seeing ground zero. Very impactful. The grounds were all immaculate and well laid out. Very peaceful and reverential experience.
After the museum, we had a couple of hours until our train was to leave back to Kyoto. I gave the kids a choice...we could go to the ancient Imperial Palace, or to the Costco we saw next to the train station. In a 4 - 1 vote (Betty being the lone dissenter), Costco it was.
I don't blame any of us...after three days in the temple capital of the world, I had seen enough. The Costco looked the same as any you'd see in the states or here. It is right next to the Hiroshima Carp's baseball stadium (Go Go Mazda Stadium), and Betty says that sales of their hot dogs on game days blows any other locations day sales out of the water. Visiting it kinda pissed me off as their selection of foodstuffs was so much better than the Taiwan stores. They had everything I am missing here, most of all, they carry a wide selection of interesting sausages. The local Costco's sell only the local sausage product, which is that horrible sweet stuff. The only "savory" kind they have are Johnsonville Brats, which is a small step up from Oscar Mayer. In Japan, they had the sundried tomato, spicy Italian, habanero and more. Damn Chinese.
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