Observations from Japan

Greetings from Japan, everyone. I am in Tokyo for the annual CEDEC game developers conference, and got in here Thursday night. Today while heading out to Nvidia to pick up the demo machines they are loaning to us for the show, I happened to notice this girl's shoes (pic at left). Sorry I chopped heads off in this shot, but it's hard to take good pictures with a cell phone while walking in a crosswalk with hundreds of other people. Love the shoes, though. Did gold moon boots come back in style??? The shoes on the girl in the upper left look interesting, too.

At any rate, it's exciting to be here right now. Japan is holding a parliamentary election here tomorrow, and they say that after 54 years of LDP control, the opposition party, the DPJ, is going to win control of the lower house of parliament (the DPJ already controls the upper house). The Liberal Democratic Party has held control since 1955, and it appears that the Democratic Party of Japan will assume control tomorrow. Though "LDP" has the "L" word in it, believe it or not it's the politically conservative party here. Ironically, the DPJ is actually the politically liberal party. It'll be fun to watch the local news coverage to see how crazy they are about following this stuff in Japan.

Meanwhile, this pic on the right I snapped today at Nvidia's office building in Akasaka. Though this is to prevent the spread of the N1H1 virus, having hand sanitizers in public buildings probably isn't a bad idea generally, anyway. Today was a Saturday, though, so the building was largely empty - I had no way of gauging how much this thing is used.

Finally... below are daytime and nighttime panorama shots (stitched together from multiple photos) from my hotel room window. This is taken from the 26th floor of the Hotel Pacific Tokyo, overlooking the Shinagawa train station.

Western Idaho Fair

The Western Idaho Fair is running in Boise for 10 days, and as many times as most of our kids have been to the fair over the past three summers that we've been here, neither Michelle nor myself had ever gone. In fact, even more pathetic is that as long as I've lived in Boise (three years) with all of the events held nearly every weekend at the fairgrounds, I had never been there. So we fixed all that today.

Justin and Christopher have actually worked at the fair each of the past couple of years. Pronto Pups, a popular corn dog franchise here in Boise, always operates food/drink stands at the fair. Though Justin and Christopher are gone, Brianna worked the lemonade booth at the fair. Of course, you know our Brianna. Always so shy and afraid to speak to people. Yeah... right!!! They've had her at the cash register (fear not: though polynomials frighten her as they do me, counting bills and change comes second nature to this teenage girl!!!), and she has loved interacting with customers. To the left here is a picture of her working at the lemonade booth this afternoon. She has worked 12-13 hours each day she has worked so far, and that will likely continue throughout most of the 10 days the fair is in town (she'll take tomorrow, Sunday, off, as well as next Wednesday to take some online summer school class finals that I know she is DYING to take on!!!).

So, Michelle, Andrew, Mark, Steven and I spent 3-4 hours at the fair today. To the right here is a picture of A, M and S near the entrance. We rode several rides, drank some lemonade (of course!), took in a couple of shows, and saw quite a few farm animals... typical fair stuff. All in all it was "fun" just hanging out with family outdoors in 95-degree heat, but the fair wasn't "all that and a bag of chips." Hmmm... maybe we should have purchased a bag of chips with our lemonade.......

For all 14 pics I have posted, please click here for the Facebook album, or here for the Flickr album.

Brianna's Persuasive Speech

This summer Brianna is taking an online speech class. She has regular classwork for this class, but obviously needs to do speeches as well. Her speeches need to be done in front of an audience, and we record and post these speeches for her teacher to review and grade.

Well... this afternoon we all gathered to film Brianna's "persuasive speech" but we all got the giggles. I've put together a bloopers reel from her "speech" this morning, which you see below. In her persuasive speech, Brianna is trying to persuade people that it's a good idea to give your children music lessons.

Check out the speech below, and let me know if you're persuaded. :-)

Freedom Team

PFC Christopher J. Goodale, a Soldier in the United States Army, has submitted you for a Freedom Team Salute Commendation for your support and sacrifice as an Army Parent.

So starts the letter (to the right) that we received today, along with a certificate (below), and Army Parent lapel pins for Michelle and I. We will wear them proudly; in fact, I even look forward to wearing mine on my sports coat when I'm in Japan in a couple of weeks. We'll see what sort of conversation starter that ends up being. :-)

A week ago today, Christopher's platoon entered "White Phase" of training, which we thought allowed him more freedoms and more time. However, we haven't received any letters from him this week, other than very brief notes along with things he has sent home. So we cannot wait to hear from him again soon!!!

I still have quite a few letters to post on his Letters from a Warrior blog; please forgive me for not getting to that.

Courageously Step Forward

Last week we received a letter from the Church, about PFC Goodale's attendance at the church on base at Ft. Benning, Georgia. To the right is a scan of the letter, with the text OCR'd below. I like how Brother Oaks writes, "In these troubled times, it is heartwarming to see sons and daughters courageously step forward to help preserve our freedom and way of life."

Indeed, it is true!!! And Christopher has stepped forward; we are proud of him. At basic training, he gets time to write letters, and we received three letters from him this past week. They don't OCR well, so Michelle is re-typing Chrisophter's handwriting (end editing out platoon member/leadership names, etc., which they advise us to do). We'll get those up when we can.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Goodale:

We recently learned that Christopher has joined the military and is attending basic training at Ft. Benning, GA. We are pleased to inform you that he has been attending the Church services on base and are grateful for the spirit he brings to the meetings. President Funk is the Church leader at Ft. Benning and will do all he can to help strengthen Christopher's faith and testimony. We appreciate your support and know you join with us in asking that the Lord will guide and protect him during this time of uncertainty and turmoil in the world.

In these troubled times, it is heartwarming to see sons and daughters courageously step forward to help preserve our freedom and way of life. You can be proud of the part you played in molding Christopher's character. Courage and patriotism do not come automatically; they are planted in the hearts of children by their parents. We express our gratitude to you for your selfless service in his behalf.

We have a deep and abiding interest in Christopher's welfare and want to ensure the blessings of Church membership are available wherever he is stationed. As military members move around, occasionally they are unable to find out where and when the Church meetings are held. Our Military Relations Division can assist them. Likewise, we are able to help concerned parents locate the bishop or branch president where their son or daughter is stationed. In addition, many times we can assist in locating the name of a group leader aboard a ship or at a deployed location around the world.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the Military Relations Division at (801) 240-2286 or e-mail them at PST-Military@ldschurch.org. We know that the Lord is mindful of Christopher and the challenges he will face as he valiantly serves in the military.

Sincerely,
Robert C. Oaks