Brianna Sings National Anthem at Hawks Game

Boise has a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Chicago Cubs, the Boise Hawks. Back on June 19th, Brianna and a friend, Dani Despres, sang the national anthem at one of their games. I was in Asia, of course, but Michelle took video, which we have now posted on YouTube. You can watch it, below, or click here.

This is an arrangement, by that way, that Brianna wrote, and she and Dani have sung this all over the place, from high school wrestling matches to baseball/softball tournaments.

Security in Tokyo

This past couple of weeks in Tokyo, I noticed all of these policemen armed to the teeth with their armbands (man those Tokyo cops are tough!!!) in the train stations. At first, I just thought they had beefed up their security because they heard that the lunatic John Goodale was in town, but then I saw this sign (pictured at right).

They're beefing up security in Tokyo for the G8 meetings coming up in Hokkaido next month. Hmmm... that's like saying, "We're holding government meetings in Portland, so we're beefing up security in Los Angeles..." (about the same distance as between Tokyo and Hokkaido). Oh well... I guess it never hurts to be too safe.

But... in spite of the extra security in Tokyo, I was able to stroll around the train stations with my thermonuclear device, my double-barreled shotgun, and my crossbow slung over my shoulders.

I'm sorry... that was just a silly joke; I don't even own a crossbow! :-)

Flicking Out in Shanghai

Tonight I flicked out. Went to a nearby mall movie theater and saw Dreamworks' and Pixar's "Kung Fu Panda." I haven't laughed that hard in a long time - what a funny movie!!! Especially in the part (I'm not giving anything away, if you haven't seen it) where the panda is being trained with food as a motivator, I thought I was going to die laughing!

Admission, by the way, cost 70 quai, or about $10. That's about the same as a movie theater in the U.S. My popcorn and soda, though, was only 28 quai, or about $4. That's a bargain in the U.S., although since the popcorn tasted very strongly of caramel, I would have gladly paid more for "normal" popcorn! :-)

I've now been to movies in the U.S. (countless states, as I like flicking out on biz trips), Japan, Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. In every place but the U.S., it's first-come, first-served, and you get to pick your assigned seat from whatever is available when you buy your ticket. Awesome!!!

Shanghai's Pearl Tower Disappearing

Though it was kind of a gross day with the clouds, rain and humidity, at night the cloud cover made for some interesting photo opps. Check out how the Pearl Tower disappears in to the nighttime cloud cover, and the glow in the clouds that the lights cause. I thought this looked cool.

As does the photo below, with my hotel in the foreground.

Ugly Day / Ugly Dewd in Shanghai

This afternoon, my associate and I took The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, from the Pudong side of the Huangu River, to The Bund side. It was an interesting little sub-terranean/sub-river tram ride that was like a good acid trip minus the drugs. I took video of the return trip; I may post that in a subsequent posting.

But it's been kind of a gross day out. Thick cloud cover with periods of rain all day. This picture to the right is taken from The Bund, looking toward Pearl Tower. The cloud cover is so thick that you can't even see the top of Pearl Tower. As many times as I've been to Shanghai, I've never been to the top of that; with the cloud cover today, it wouldn't be a good day for it, either.

But not only was the DAY ugly, I discovered an ugly DEWD, as well. We went past a vendor in the museum area of The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, that for 160 quai (about $23) would make a figurine of you out of clay. I went ahead and did this, just for the fun of it. Pictures below.

Here the vendor is sculpting me from clay, blue-and-white stripes on my shirt, and everything!

The finished product. Now... why oh WHY has somebody not had the heart to tell me I'm this ugly???!!!

Me standing by the Huangu River; that's our hotel (Oriental Riverside Hotel) directly behind me, with the globe-type things on either side of it.

Jazz in Shanghai

Tonight with a customer we went to a jazz club here in Shanghai. The place is called Jz Club (click on the link; their website is kind of fun), and we had a great time there!!! Though all things are relative, for Shanghai, this place was a bit expensive. They had a cover charge of 30 kuai (about $4.35), each ginger ale I ordered (do I know how to party, or what?!) cost 40 kuai ($5.81). :-)

The place was absolutely PACKED - a full house. However, after just about ten minutes of waiting, they showed us to a table that had cleared out, right at the front of the room. How lucky was that?! Tonight was Big Band night, and on this relatively small stage that had 15 players. For three of their songs, they even featured "Jasmine" - she had a gorgeous voice.

I have posted a video on YouTube (actually three videos combined in to one), which you can click below to view. The band/singing sounded great live in person, but I was actually a little too close to the band for the digital camera to pick up the sound very well. So even though the sound quality isn't that great, I hope you get the idea, anyway. We had a great time!

Boise in Shanghai

Friday night here in Shanghai I went out to dinner with the Christensens and some friends of theirs here. Trent (doing the traditional peace sign behind me) and Tami, and their son, Aaron, are out here from Boise on a two-year assignment from Hewlett Packard.

We went to this little hole-in-the-wall dumpling place that was REALLY good. Dumplings and wanton soup (beef and pig heart). The entire restaurant was about the size of our dining room at home - I don't know how the Christensens discovered this little jewel. Very VERY yummy, and CHEAP!!! By contrast, tonight I was at a Shanghai jazz club, and one ginger ale there cost one-half of what our entire meal for five cost last night!

But better than the food was the company (no... I didn't eat the company). It was fun hanging out with friends from home. But having been gone from Boise for nearly three weeks now, I must admit that it made me a bit homesick!!!

Hachiko / "Times Square" of Tokyo

Wow... what a nice, lazy Father's Day Sunday here in Japan. Didn't do much, but this evening, I took DB (my associate, David Brame) down to Shibuya, which is called by many the "Times Square" of Tokyo. There certainly are a bazillion people walking around down there!!! And with all the neon, it does indeed remind one of Times Square in NYC.

The Shibuya train station features a statue of "Hachiko" - the beloved, loyal dog that went to Shibuya station every day to look for his master (way back in the 1920s). It's a very cute story, supposedly very well-known in Japan; we even have a children's book about Hachiko at home (in English, of course). For the story of Hachiko, you can click here.

DB being a rather simple guy like me, I also thought he would appreciate a nice, simple American PIZZA meal!!! I knew there was a Shakeys Pizza Parlor in Shibuya, so we went there. DB and I were not disappointed - it tasted quite yummy! :-)

Though the pictures do NOT do Shibuya justice, below are a couple of photos I took in Shibuya this evening. Enjoy...

Andrew Playoffs

Hey everybody! This is Justin and Andrew with the first post by somebody other than Dad. Andrew's baseball team finished with the third best record in their league this season, and last week they started the double elimination playoff tournament. They eventually advanced to the semi-final game, which was played on Wednesday. This earned them a game against Andrew's team from last year, the second place Dodgers. Andrew's team jumped out to an early 7-2 lead before the Dodgers stormed back and made it 7-6. It was a tough battle, but the Mariners ended up coasting to a 10-6 victory behind Andrew's great play on both offense and defense. He reached base on all four at-bats, including 2 RBI singles. He also played great at first base.
On Friday, they went on to play the Indians in the championship. Andrew played first base once again and was an integral part of the Mariners impressive defensive effort. He also went 2-2 with an RBI double in the Mariners 4-2 win. This isn't the end, however. While the Mariners had lost one game in the tournament, this was the Indians first loss. The playoffs are double elimination, so the Mariners must beat them again Saturday afternoon to win the championship.

Rinsed Well

Ahhhh... now this certainly sounds just fine. I've taken a picture here in my Fukuoka (Japan) hotel room of a cup wrapped in plastic, right next to my incredibly high-tech in room phone. You can be absolutely positive that I feel completely comfortable taking a sip from this cup, because it has been "RINSED WELL." :-)

On a side-note, this same model phone I have seen in Japan hotel rooms since the late 1980s. They just don't make phones like they used to! :-)

An Inconvenient Remote Control

Check this out. I discovered that my TV remote control in my apartment in Tokyo has a "speed dial" button for CNN!!! :-)

(you may need to click on the picture to enlarge it, to see the button clearly)

Eatertainment: Inakaya

Last night we went to one of my favorite restaurants here in Tokyo, a place called "Inakaya." It's a robatayaki-style restaurant, and the customers sit around a giant U-shaped bar. You have all kinds of food laid out in front of you - beef, chicken, vegetables, fish, etc. etc. etc., and there are two guys on a raised platform in the center of the U. You tell the waiters around you what you want, and they yell it out to the two guys up front. They prepare it - cook it if necessary, and serve it up to you on a long wooden "paddle." It's a very fun, loud environment - best understood by watching the video, below (or on YouTube, here). I call it EATERTAINMENT.

By the way, in the second part of this clip, they're not beating some customer who didn't pay his bill, they're pounding rice in to submission, to turn it in to rice cakes.

Executive Chef, EGT

Tonight I received a short-lived promotion to Executive Chef, Emergent Game Technologies. Cooked spaghetti in my apartment for my two Emergent associates and myself. Now we're hanging out watching "Without a Trace" on Tokyo's Super Drama TV channel. Are we party animals this Saturday night in Tokyo, or what?! Actually... after eating out and entertaining night after night, it's nice to just sit around in my cozy apartment. Never fear, though... after my associates finish off their drinks, we're going to go totally crazy and have ice cream for dessert. Look out, Tokyo!!! :-)

By the way, I call the Executive Chef promotion short-lived because I accidentally undercooked the noodles and they were a bit tough. I guess I'll have to keep my day job!

I'll be accepting recipe submissions for our next wild, crazy night in Asia. :-)

Mark - A Presidential Scholar

This year, Mark enjoyed being king of the hill at his elementary school, and next year he gets to move on to middle school. He's done a great job this year, and I'm sure we'll see many great things from him next year, as well.

On Friday, Mark was presented with the President's Education Award. To the right is his certificate, and below you'll see the letter from President Bush (click either to enlarge).

Way to go, Mark!!!