Saturday, July 14, 2007, 05:16 AM - Japan
Typhoon Man-Yi graced us with its presence last night and all day today. Yesterday evening I took everything that was outside and put it in the storage closet except for our trash cans. I kept thinking: "oh, all the previous typhoons ended up being nothing, so I'll bet this will be the same way!" Well, I ended up obsessing over it until about midnight when I ran outside in the rain and pulled the trash cans and recycle bin inside. Uggghhh.
This morning, I awoke to winds that felt and sounded like it would break all the windows of the house and ran being thrown about. 120 knots (140 mph)!! My first question was "how am I going to let the dogs out to go to the bathroom?" Well...see the picture below:
;)
There's nothing like a good flak and kevlar to protect you from flying debris!! It was actually a pretty bad storm! Note the video below (and one more picture if you click the related link at the bottom of this post).
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 04:15 AM - Family, PC, Japan, Pictures
On Sunday I got to do something that I'd wanted to do for the last year or so (since I first heard about it). About a mile off Torii Beach, there's a net with three whale sharks inside. A Japanese diving company runs tours out there so you can dive with them. For only $115, you can dive with the largest fish in the sea...sounds good to me!
Since Lisa doesn't dive, I figured it would be a perfect thing to do while she and Nathan were gone. So, on Sunday I saddled up with two friends and we went out there. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I can't really even explain what it's like to have this huge fish coming towards you with it's mouth open and nudge you into the net. Or to run your hands across it's back from the mouth all the way down to the tail.
Click on the related link below for some (bad) pictures. I also took all the videos that Brian took with his underwater camera and made a little consolidated video shown below. Enjoy!
(Click the Play button in the window below for the video to start)
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Monday, July 2, 2007, 10:55 PM - Family, Nathan, Lisa, PC, Food, Japan
Well, Lisa and Nathan successfully made it back to the States yesterday/today. We got to the airport an hour and a half early (normally that's WAY too early, but we figured Nathan would like to play on the inside playground for a while). As soon as we walked in the terminal, we saw like 500 people in a line that snaked across all of the ANA counters and into the middle of the building. We looked at each other in utter disbelief...never has it been so busy in our small little airport!!
Lisa waited in line with all the stuff while Nathan and I went and changed his diaper, played on the airplane playground, watched the airplanes and airport trucks drive around the tarmac, etc. It wasn't until 11:20am that Lisa finally got up to the counter (for a 12:00pm flight)!!! After about 20 minutes, Lisa got all their tickets AND an ANA escort to take them to the plane. I couldn't go past security, so it was kind of a quick goodbye. After talking to Lisa today, she said that the airline lady walked them all the way to their seats and helped install the car seat too!!
I'll let Lisa tell the rest of the story on her blog, but that's the beginning part.
So, what did I do with my new found bachelorhood? Mowed the lawn, cleaned the house, read my book, and tried a GREAT new ramen restaurant. I'd been wanting to go there for the last year or so, but it just never worked out (they open late). Anyway, the place is basically a shack on the side of the road but their ramen is awesome! Just like the stuff we had in Sapporo. The have a set menu where you choose what type of ramen you want (soy sauce, miso, etc) and you get a drink, gyoza, japanese salad, and garlic fried rice all for about $8. Definitely a keeper.
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Friday, June 22, 2007, 05:23 AM - Family, PC, Japan, Pictures, USMC
Last Friday, I had one of the greatest opportunities of my career: to go visit Iwo Jima. That was one of the very few things I really wanted to do before I left Okinawa and I'm stoked that I got to go. Our Ops Chief was re-enlisting and was able to get a flight from Okinawa to Iwo Jima for 40 people. He swooped up most of the officers and SNCOs of the unit and off we went!
With only 4 hours on the deck and an hour and a half hump up to the top of Mt. Suribachi, we didn't waste any time. We humped up to the top, took some pictures, did the ceremony, humped down to the beach, walked up the beach, got some sand, jumped in the shark infested ocean, and finished humping back. All in all, it was amazing.
;)
;)
On a more somber note, if you're not familiar with the battle of Iwo Jima at all, here's a little history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima
Over 27,000 US troops (mostly Marines) were casualties. Over 6,000 were killed in a battle that lasted a little more than 30 days. More than 20,000 Japanese soldiers died. This battle is one of the most important battles in the history of the Marine Corps, which is why it was such an honor to be able to walk those same grounds.
"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue"—Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
BTW, I made this image by merging a photo of the landing with one of my photos. I think I'm going to mount it in a shadow box style frame and put some sand in it. What do you think?
;)
Click the related link below for some more pictures.
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Monday, February 19, 2007, 06:11 PM - Japan
And now for something uniquely Okinawan! On Saturday, we went to the beach by Jusco/American Village and had a great time walking around in the water and sand. When we came back towards the car, what did we hear going on in front of American Village? Break dancing of course!!! I've seen this troop before and they're pretty bad ass. So, without further ado, I present to you a little bit of break dancing and a little bit of robot man!
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Saturday, January 20, 2007, 08:00 PM - Family, Nathan, Lisa, PC, Japan, Pictures
I've been lazy about putting pictures up lately, but today is your lucky day! 17 pictures that we've taken around Sunset Beach (right near American Village) in the last couple of days (click the related link at the bottom to see all of them).
;)
The first four (including the one to the left) are from about a week ago when we went down there to watch the sunset from the beach. Of course we had to stop and get Lisa a Starbucks (and let Nathan stare at the bad ass ferris wheel), so just as we rolled up to the beach we saw the last 10 seconds of the sun setting. DAMMIT!!! As I said to Lisa, we were one Carmel Macchiato too late.
;)
This picture is of the sun rise the morning Lisa drove me in to work because I left my car at the airport. Let's be realistic, when I say airport I really mean the building we call the "terminal" on the flightline. It's really just a waiting area with a door onto the flightline. Aaahhh, gotta love flying Sumo Air!!!
;)
And finally, the pictures from this morning. Today we were going to look at the AN-124 on MCAS Futenma, but it turned out that it took off about 30 minutes before we left. Oh well, we'll go see the one that's flying in tomorrow!!! Afterall, it's the second largest aircraft in the world! Anyway, we decided to go get Starbucks and walk around the beach a little bit. Nathan enjoyed eating his chocolate scone, feeding the pigeons, and being fearless by trying to walk up and down all the stairs by himself. He also tried to jump down from the picnic table bench and...well, you can see what happened:
;)
Don't worry, his nose broke his fall!
And, lastly, a little bit of Engrish for all you lucky readers out there. At the snack bar, they sell Squid Arm Fries for only $5!!!
;)
You also have the option to rent beach ambrellas and ash trays. Sweet!!
;)
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Monday, July 31, 2006, 03:22 AM - Japan, Technology, WWW
Everybody who's reading this blog should know for a FACT that I'm a computer super freak. Having said that, what comes next should not at all surprise you.
Google Maps is a really cool feature. You can look satellite images of locations, maps, etc. You can also use their API to pinpoint places and reference them later. Well...that's what I'm starting to do with things we like to do or places we like to go in Okinawa. There's a lot I still want to do to this website, but this is just a start. Leave me a comment to let me know what you think:
http://www.thedrews.net/maps/index.php
BTW, click on the red markers to see the text entry.
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Monday, July 31, 2006, 03:14 AM - Family, Japan, Pictures
;)
Today we drove to Ikei Island to see what all the hubub was about. In order to get there, we pass the Jusco that I just found out about and cross a really pretty bridge, drive through two other islands, and finally end up on Ikei Island. The island is tiny and is mostly inhabited by farmers. There's one resort, a motorcycle racing track (huh?), a lot of farms, and a bunch of beaches. It seems that more than one person capitalized on their beach front property by charging $4-$6 per person to use the beach. There were a couple of beaches that we found (where all the surfers go) that are free and deserted. My kind of place!
After driving all around Ikei for about 30 minutes, we drove back and stopped in the middle of a bridge to take pictures. Nope, we weren't the only crazy people!! There were 3 other cars stopped on both sides taking pictures. He he he, I love Japan!
After that, we drove through the other islands, stopped at a few more beaches, and commented on the fact that Okinawans really love taking their sun tents out to the beach along with their grills and doing an old fashioned (Japanese) BBQ. Full on with yakitori, hot dogs, vegetables, etc. Sounds like fun to me!
On the way home, of course, we HAD to stop off at the Jusco mall and get a blood orange slurpee from the Doutor Coffee place. We saw that last week when Lisa finally took me to the mall and I got the slurpee. Man was it good!!!
All in all, it was an awesome day exploring one of the great benefits of living on a (sub) tropical island. Click the related link for the rest of the pictures.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2006, 03:16 AM - Japan
Here's a weird tidbit for you: all official references to the year in Japan are done as the number of years since the current emporer has been on the throne. For example, when talking to Americans, I drive a 1989 Toyota Town Ace. If I look on my Japanese title it says the van was built in "Heisei gannen" or the first year of the Heisei era. My insurance espired in July of "Heisei 18" or the 18th year of the Heisei era. My new insurance, that I got completed today (it's like an emissions inspection in the states) will expire in "Heisei 20".
Anyway, for those of you who are interested in reading more about how the Japanese dates work, click on the related link.
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Tuesday, July 18, 2006, 08:08 PM - Family, Food, Japan, Pictures
Sorry, I'm a fair-weather-blogger, so I haven't posted in a while. That's what Lisa is for!!! Anyway, as you already saw from her blog, we went to the Nago Pineapple Park and Pizza in the Sky this weekend. Click on the related like for all of our pictures.[ 2 comments ] ( 26 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | related link
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