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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Sunday, July 23, 2006, 04:02 AM - USMC
Last one, then I'm going to bed. Everyone likes to poke fun at Marines because they think we're all stupid jarheads. Think of it this way...if our enemy thinks that, then it's easier to kill them. Either way, I still like a good ribbing. Take a look at this video that some Navy pilots made about Marines. It's AWESOME!!!
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2690790
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Sunday, July 23, 2006, 03:36 AM - Family
Every once in a while I like to Google myself or Lisa or us or other people. A few minutes ago I googled "the drews" and ran across our alleged family crest. That's it pictured to the right of this text. Kinda stupid, huh? Although...do take note of the lion in the crest...and I am a Leo...are you seeing a pattern here? You can read the rest of the information about the Drews at the website: http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/q ... -crest.htm.
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Sunday, July 23, 2006, 03:15 AM - Family, Nathan, Food, Pictures
Lisa stole most of the wind from my sail because she posted her update first and included some pictures. Well...I'm including them ALL!!! See the related link for the pictures.
BTW, note the picture below of the three of us in front of the table where Nathan and I were picking our noses. Nathan started it!!!
;)
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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
Monday, July 10, 2006, 02:44 AM
Yes, time for another typhoon. Right now it's being called a "tropical depression". The Internet tells me:
"A tropical depression is an organized system of clouds and thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of less than 17 m/s (33 kt, 38 mph, or 62 km/h). It has no eye, and does not typically have the organization or the spiral shape of more powerful storms.
"A tropical cyclone (or hurricane or typhoon) is a system with sustained winds greater than 33 m/s (64 kt, 74 mph, or 118 km/h). A tropical cyclone tends to develop an eye, an area of relative calm (and lowest atmospheric pressure) at the center of circulation. The eye is often visible in satellite images as a small, circular, cloud-free spot. Surrounding the eye is the eyewall, an area about 10–50 mi (16–80 km) wide in which the strongest thunderstorms and winds circulate around the storm's center."
Wikipedia, oh how I love thee, let me count the ways! To see more of that encyclopedia type info, click on the related link which takes you to the Wikipedia page on typhoons.
Meanwhile, hang out and take a look at some pictures from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center!! Note: the site might only allow people coming from .mil addresses to see it...we can't see it from home.
Here are some from the typhoon that swept by us last night:
;)
;)
And here are some from the tropical depression that's going to hit us in about 3 days:
;)
;)
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Sunday, July 9, 2006, 04:18 PM - Food, Japan
One more blog post for the morning then it's back to playing with Nathan. Right now he's entertaining himself with watching Baby Einstein, playing with his toys, and pooping all at the same time 
;)
Izakaya's are basically Japanese style pubs. They're informal drinking establishments that serve finger food like sushi, tempura, noodles, etc in family style dishes. The food is usually pretty cheap and really good. I thought they started in Okinawa, but I'll have to double check that fact. Here are some links for more info:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izakaya
Slashfood has an article about them: http://www.slashfood.com/2006/07/07/iza ... shi-in-la/
Anzuya - chain that we like on Okinawa: http://www.anzuya.jp/index.html
When you come visit us, expect to go to one!
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Sunday, July 9, 2006, 03:29 PM - Family
This morning when we all woke up at 7:45am, Lisa and I talked about some random (mostly parenting) thoughts that we'd been having. Looking at Nathan and thinking how he's experiencing everything for the first time I couldn't help think this stuff:
1. As parents, it's our JOB to understand where he is in the development process and expect that he's going to: put everything in his mouth, want to play with everything, be naturally curious, be hard headed, etc. As long as we expect that, then we can let him play with stuff or not depending on the risk. For example, last night he was playing with the Internet phone. We have both sets of grandparents and Marc and Vivian on speed dial, so Nathan obviously figured out how to call Grandmimi and Grandad. They got a call at about 5am from Nathan and then he hung up
Sorry, Mom and Dad, but that's something that we're going to get Nathan play with! There's no safety risk involved and it makes him happy at the same time he's experiencing something and feeling like he's a part of something. Maybe next time, however, we can unplug the phone from the Internet, but that's no big deal. On the other hand playing with cords, night lights, knives, etc is a big no no.
2. Discipline is probably the most personal decision of all parent styles/decisions out there. Almost everybody has the intent of raising good children, but everyone goes about it differently. At this point, Lisa and I are VERY much opposed to spanking or anything else physical. All of the experienced readers out there (i.e. our parents) are probably laughing at us and saying "HAH, they'll see!!" Here's how we look at it: parenting is the biggest leadership challenge that we will face. If I had a Marine who was always doing the wrong things, there's no way I'd be allowed to spank him or hit him. I'd have to find another way to get through to him. Translate that into baby-speak and it means that my first reaction shouldn't be to spank Nathan because he's not listening to me. I need to be firm, fair, and immediate in my reaction, but it doesn't need to be physical.
Having said all of that, we'll see how it goes through the years. Maybe I'm totally wrong and that's the only way to get through to little kids. I doubt it; I think parents just need to have a little bit more patience. After all...everything you do and don't do shapes who these little people will become. What an awesome responsibility.
3. Without ever talking about it over the last 10 years, Lisa and I realized that we make the bed exactly the same way. Both of our parents can attest to this: we NEVER understood the purpose of "really" making our bed in high school. Sure, we'd do it when we were told, but never because we wanted to. Making our beds consisted of pulling the comforter up to the pillows. Both of our parents wanted us to take the pillows off, pull the comforter up to the top of the bed, fold the comforter down about 18 inches, place the pillow at the head of the bed and overlapping the fold a little bit, then bring the comforter back up and over the pillow, basically wrapping the pillow in the comforter. No way, Jose. That stuff is for the birds!!
4. We really don't ever open each others mail. Unless it's something like the Netflix envelopes or something that we both know what it is, we don't really open each others mail. It's an unwritten rule, but it works for us. It means we get some privacy
5. Lastly: free parenting advice makes people feel awkward. Yes, grandparents, that's true when you give it too!! As I said above, our goal is to be good parents. We're going about it the best way we know how. We seek advice from the Internet (a lot), our friends, our families, books, etc and then we DECIDE ON A COURSE OF ACTION. For those military folk out there it's very simple: there's a problem, we develop multiple courses of action while seeking input from multiple "experts". Then we decide on a course of action and TAKE IT. Circumstances may change and we may be forced to reevaluate our decision, but the course of action that we decide is what we're going to execute. So, for everyone's sanity, please limit the free advice to the SEEKING advice phase.
Yes, everyone (Jeff and Stephanie especially), we try not to say anything like "oh, this is what we did and it really worked for us" out of the blue for the same reason that we don't like it when people say that to us. Having said all that, if someone asks for our opinion, we won't hold back! And we would expect nothing less from other people.
In the words of the great Dwight Schrute: that is all.
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