Sunday, April 30, 2006
Sunday
Here are a couple of the highlights for today:
- Leave from Atsugi
- Train to Tokyo
- Check in to hotel
- Shopping (Akihabara)
Saturday, April 29, 2006
First Morning In Japan
Well, it's my first morning here in Japan. I woke up, walked across the street, and enjoyed japanese breakfast (Seattle's Best Mocha, and a Cinnabon cinnamon roll). It's kinda weird being on base because everything here is American. I think we are going to do some traveling today, but I'm not sure where we are going. It's about 50 degrees outside and feels great. If you want to see where I have been, click on the Google Maps link. It should load in Google Maps and it will take you a fly through of where I have been in the last 36 hours.
-----Friday, April 28, 2006
My first Japanese Sushi
Tonight we went to eat sushi - it was my first real meal since I have been here. Michael thought it would be quick enough to get back to the base on time and it's one of his favorite spots. When we walked in everyone greeted us. I don't really know what they said, but apparently they say it everywhere, so I'm sure I will hear it a lot. When we sat down, we made our own green tea out of this green tea powder and REALLY hot water. After that we asked for an English menu (so that we would know what we were eating before we ate it). The alternative was to just grab some of the food off the little conveyor belt in front of us. We ordered tuna, salmon, and yellowtail, and Michael ordered shrimp. It was all great, but they don't use as much wasabi as I like. I was on my next to last piece of salmon when I noticed they had these little packets of something on the conveyor belt. I grabbed one and opened it to find they they were little packets of wasabi. So I squeezed a bunch out and took a big bite. Apparently the wasabi we have in America is diluted or something because this stuff was really potent. We might even have fake wasabi…I don't really know. So next time I eat wasabi, I will know that a little bit of that green stuff goes a long way.
Oh yeah. They are really concerned about freshness here, so fish is delivered in a tank carried in the back of an 18 wheeler. They keep the fish in fish tanks all over the restaurant. In one of the tanks they have this crab that looks like the star in aliens. It was huge. If you think you can handle it, you can see it here.
-----The Great Buda
Today we visited the Great Buda - it is really big. I am not really sure when it was built because all of the signs are in japanese, but it looks very old and is made of solid metal. It was one of the first things that we saw when we stopped by Kamakura.
Saturday Highlights
To my surprise, Michael was waiting for me when I stepped off the plane. Customs was a breeze and I didn't have any problems getting off the plane. This was Michael's first trip to Tokyo by car - and only the second time he had driven from Tokyo back to the base (the first time was when he was picked up when he first got to Japan). Our trip back to the base was really uneventful - it took about two hours and we never really left the city. It looked like all the cities just ran together. Once we got back to the base, we had to check in so I could get a visitor pass (and that took almost an hour). After that, we checked into the hotel and dropped off our luggage. We decided to go grab some dinner since most of the places on base where closed. All in all, it was a great trip - a long but good one. I'm glad I am finally here.
Highlights for Today:
-----Thursday, April 27, 2006
Single again
David's gone. Yep, gone…literally. He left this morning for Japan to visit his brother, Michael, who's stationed there in the Navy.
No, we didn't break up…but I am single for all intents and purposes for the next two weeks, and not too excited about it. Don't get me wrong - i'm REALLY excited for him to have this opportunity, and excited about the goods that could come out of this, but that leaves me here…by myself.
I feel like I'm whining…well, I probably am. This feeling of missing him is really weird - and yet I think it's a good thing. I'm praying that God uses this time in both of our lives.
Be watching for updates - I'm hoping I'll get to talk to him a couple of times at least.
-----Monday, April 24, 2006
Special session…
Define special. Then try to figure out why it's called "special" session. Too many in the past 2 years to have anything like "special" as the descriptive adj…
Yes, we're in it again. I'm back working at the Capitol and they're back working on lowering property tax and "fixing" the way we fund public schools.
I guess when you're at work for 12 hrs, there's a certain amount of cynicism that starts to grow. Especially if you can see all the negatives of a supposedly "good" bill. But, that's our great legislative system at work.
I had a fellow staffer who has worked in different states who told me that this committee process that Texas labors in (the legislative process) is backwards and terrible (my abbreviation, she didn't use those exact words). Her reasoning for this was that it took forever to get anything done - ie. legislation passed. She stated that if we had a cabnet system (that being appointed by the Governor and thus giving him/her GREAT power and for the most part whatever he/she wanted passed) we would actually get something done for all our efforts.
She's right on one hand - we would get more done. But assuming that would be better than what we have right now - I couldn't disagree more. Our system was set up to do exactly what she was complaining about - stopping legislation. A very wise man told me once "No right is safe when the legislature is meeting." My personal opinion is - less government is better government. With our system of many checks and balences, over 6000 bills each session, less than 1000 are passed. After that, the Governor gets his shot (then Gov. Bush greatly enjoyed his veto pen).
So, I have to remind myself as I participate in this VERY slow process that it's really ok. If we don't pass this bill, we will all live to see another day…and might be better off for the defeat. That if our tax system doesn't change today - our #7 business economy is probably better off for it. That if this tax system stays the same, jobs will still be available for all sectors of our society - including the lowest income. I know it's frustrating for all involved parties, but I would rather see nothing done than see a bill passed that will cause jobs to go to different states and harm this state as a whole…just so that we can say we passed something.
Thoughts?
A Brief Introduction to GPS Photo Linking
Do you ever look back through your vacation photos and wonder where all of the photos were taken? What if there was a way to have all those images automatically show up as pins on a map or an aerial photograph? It may seem too good to be true, but it can be done. No mirrors or smoke; it's just making use of existing GPS technology.
As you are out recording pictures, your GPS receiver is busy making a digital popcorn trail of your movements. Then when you're back on the computer, a topo map or aerial photograph is pulled from a terraserver on the Internet, and your shots show up on the map as clickable links to your photographs.
In this article I'll provide you with a brief introduction to this fun endeavor to help you get your bearings … so to speak.
-----Preparing to leave for Japan
Well I am preparing to leave for Japan and I am testing out the new google maps feature that will allow me to track where I took photos and where I was when I posted. It should be pretty cool and allow me to have a good record of all the places I visited in Japan. Well let's see how it all works.
-----Monday, April 03, 2006
Inks Lake Hotel
We went camping this weekend - had a blast. Definition of "we" - Noell (yes, me), David, Steph (my sis), Sherri (my wonderful long time friend), Phil, Debi, Rebecca (David's parents and sister), Andy and Jenna (for Friday night) the Thompson family (friends of the Alley's and new friends of mine 
), and Chris Glass and his way cute daughter Anna. All in all, 18 people.
Yes, a ton of people. But we had a blast. See, i'm a baby camper - this was my 2nd time to go…ever. We had a great time - the weather was cool at night, and got HOT during the day. Thankfully we were close to water, the breeze never went away, and we only got a little red on the shoulders.
BTW, if you want to go camping at a way fun place, go to Inks Lake State Park - it's got cliff jumping, paddle boats, and campsites all the way from air conditioned cabins to almost primative camping (water only). Other than the water being FREEZING, it was great…and of course you can take my word for it - I'm an experienced camper now!
Sherri brought her HUGE tent (four person, can be made into two rooms) - and it soon became the girls' own personal Inks Lake Hotel. With her air mattress (which i didn't get to sleep on - I lost in the bartering process) and Steph's Ipod and docking station, we were set…and definitely roughing it.
Some of the Thompson's friends brought their Skidoo - and it was the Harley of jetski's. It was a three-seater, could go from 0-50 in a VERY short time frame, and had a reverse (it's like a motorcycle having a reverse!). I am proud to announce that I made David exclaim - kinda a burst of laughter with a bit of a yell - with my driving (it might have had something to do with how cold the water was, but I doubt it ) Steph, Sherri and Rebecca went out and didn't return for 1 1/2 hrs - time flies when you're on the water - and only caused a bit of worry from the moms in our group.
Sat night we threw an air mattress in the back of David's truck, found a wide open space and star gazed for a while. It was a lot of fun - especially since Sherri knows a bit about astronomy - and the shooting stars were out in full force. Man, the saying is true - "the stars at night, are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas!" You just have to get outside the city lights.
Only one major mishap - we had a canoe tip over with Phil, Debi, Rebecca, and Dave Thompson in it. The problem was that between them they had two cameras, one ipod, one palm, one phone and the total damage (if nothing dries out and ends up working) is over $2000. Ouch. The flash card which held all of Phil's data was lost for a couple of hrs, but thankfully that was recovered. Lesson learned? Don't take electronics on a canoe.
Ck out the pictures when they go up - I'm waiting to get them from various sources. There's nothing like getting out of the city, hearing the natural music of the wind in the trees, the birds, and the crickets. We had a hoot owl and his friends sing us to sleep on Sat night, and it was a perfect ending to a close-to-perfect weekend trip.
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